Quote of the Week

“Cycling needs to be seen as an enhanced form of walking.”

Lord Hoffman of Get Britain Cycling, an all-party parliamentary enquiry set up by the parliamentary cycling group in an attempt to capitalise on general enthusiasm for cycling following the London Olympics. Hoffman said that 'cycling requires a long-term commitment from government' and the cycling culture needs to be seen as an everyday thing. Just like walking….

Car Culture

With the London 2012 Olympic excitement dying down, and the focus switching to “legacy” and engaging the yoof to get active, here’s a take from Private Eye on the nature of the challenge.

Malls Without Walls

Anna Minton’s 2009 book ”Ground Control: Fear And Happiness In The Twenty First Century City” analyses how public and civic spaces are being privatised, sanitized and made safe for shopping in cities across Britain, from Liverpool One to Westfield Stratford. Her writing seems even more timely as the Olympic brandfest draws near. 2012 and all that. When Marc Auge described “non-places” he was referring to locations like malls, airports and conference centres – but as Minton shows, non places are now invading the core of British cities. Minton says, “these places are everywhere but feel like they're nowhere in particular, devoid of local culture and history and the distinctiveness that brings. Instead they try very hard to import their own culture and vitality, but it doesn't work, creating fake, themed environments where everything is controlled and far from unplanned and spontaneous.” Brighton and Hove has, so far, managed to escape the worst of these malls without walls, but even here, the chain stores seem to be gradually taking over. Of course, you don’t have to shop in them….

EastEnders and VIPs (Very Important Pedestrians)

A couple of weekends ago I found myself in North Greenwich, a stone’s throw from London’s O2, with a Travelcard in hand and a free evening. Although the Jubilee Line heads to the heart of the West End, there seemed to be as many people heading east as west, so I joined the throng, and detrained at Stratford. Once an expanse of railway yards and workshops, and now the epicentre of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Stratford is also home to the new mega mall of Westfield Stratford City. Stratford station has become an even more important transport interchange, and is now connected to a massive shopping centre with the Olympics attached (it was easier to find the shops than the Olympics, although presumably this will change as the Olympics draw near).

Westfield Stratford City is east London’s mirror to Westfield’s other development, west of the city at Shepherds Bush. In an area like the East End that has been historically starved of amenities, the new mall is a glittering temple to consumerism, Clone Town Britain under one roof – practically the same chain shops as everywhere else, only more of them, and more upmarket. People seem to like it – thousands thronged the dry warm environs on a cold dark day, although few seemed to be buying much: Hanging Out At The Mall seems to have become an English leisure activity. No doubt the two Westfields are already sucking trade away from what’s left of traditional High Streets in east and west London, and it’s interesting to ponder the effect on Oxford Street, currently London’s busiest shopping street.

Oxford Street is not a lot of fun: it’s mostly choked with slow moving buses and taxis. But on VIP day each year, Oxford Street takes an imaginative leap into a different world, when the street is closed to everything except Very Important Pedestrians. VIP day is hugely popular, and attracts millions of people.

Representatives of the West End shops have called for traffic to be banned from Oxford Street and Regent Street every Sunday, to give shoppers a break from “congestion hell.” Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas, chairman of the New West End Company which represents 600 retailers, was reported as saying "Wouldn't it be nice if the West End was traffic free every Sunday. Why not? It works in New York, where they have lots of community events on their streets in the summer and Christmas." Maybe it’s going to take the exodus of shoppers to the Westfields, with their great transport links and relaxed traffic-free ambience, to force Oxford Street to prove just how important pedestrians are. Roll on 24/7 VIPs.