London seemed to take stock of itself in 2000 and 2001 regarding
growth and planning with the creation of the Transport for London and the
production of the Urban White Paper. The former is the governmental agency in
charge of all transportation aspects of Greater London. The later is the
document or report calling for, “better design in cities and the provision of
affordable homes”. Both serve as guides for dealing with the projected
growth London will encounter in the future.
While the Transport for London is the agency tasked with the
oversight of everything from a bike sharing program to the implementation of
new rail lines and service the Urban White Paper serves to provide measures or
goals for future development. “Planning policy guidance putting urban
renaissance at the heart of the planning system; and a drive to implement
planning policy on housing”, “Investing 180 billion pounds in a ten year plan
for transport to modernize and upgrade out transport needs”, and a Neighborhood
Renewal Reward Fund of 800 million pounds over three years, are a few examples
of the proposals that the Urban White Paper supported moving towards greater
density, more walkable neighborhoods and better access to public transit.
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| London Crossrail Map |
The nexus of both of these can be seen in the planning, design
and impact of the Crossrail transportation project across London. Crossrail is:
“[A] new high-frequency,
high-capacity railway from Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west, through central
London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. It will connect the outer
suburbs to the heart of the City and West End, as well as providing a quick
route between central London and Heathrow Airport.”
Crossrail
purports to:
“provide a 10% increase in
London’s rail capacity, so it will relieve congestion on many existing rail and
Tube lines. It will bring 1.5 million more people across London within a 45
minute commute of the key business districts of the West End, City and
Docklands. It will be a modern service for the 21st century with energy
efficiency technology being used from the start”.
Covering
roughly 75 miles with ten new car trains while adding 40 new stations has already
had the immediate impact of increasing property values throughout much of the
proposed route and it has yet to even open. Slated for a 2018 ribbon cutting,
property values, according to a report published by the firm Knight Frank,
“will rise by 40% over the next five years”. The report continues to claim
that, “average property prices within a 10-minute walk of the central Crossrail
stations have already risen by 30% since 2008”. This might not be too much
of a surprise as Crossrail is widely noted as the most significant upgrade in
rail travel across the Capital since the Second World War.
The
current Crossrail project also promises a ‘public realm investment’ of:
- 92,000 square metres of improved public space outside the new Crossrail stations in central London – the equivalent to four Trafalgar Squares or 13 football pitches – providing clutter-free public areas, wider pavements, new pedestrianized areas and additional traffic calming measures outside stations Improved public areas designed to integrate with local streets and buildings, stimulating future development and regeneration around Crossrail stations.
- New trees planted, along with new seating areas and meeting places.
- Transport interchange improvements including improved connections with buses, taxis, cycle parking, and walking routes with improved signage and way-finding.
There are a few other aspects of the Crossrails project that
deserve attention. First is the ‘Community Investment Programme – SupportingLocal Communities’. This is a program, ‘the first of its kind for a major
infrastructure project’, requiring Crossrail construction contractors to
donate, ‘their skills, time, money and expertise to bring lasting benefit to
the communities in which they are working'. Another issue of note is that
while Crossrails has had huge impacts contingent to its development it has also
spurred other large transportation projects across the city – most notably the
Thameslink upgrade and Crossrails 2, providing better linkage from SW to NE
London.
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| Supporting Local Communities |
London continues to see itself as a ‘World City’ and seems
to understand in much of its planning documentation over the last ten years
that in order to better manage its projected growth while at the same time
attempting to be competitive, attractive and livable it must better adapt and
adopt many of the transit oriented development strategies to provide both the
needed housing and infrastructure as well as the connectivity that a city like
London demands.
The Community Investment Programme aspect of this project is really interesting. I'd like to know more about it, and hopefully, will find time to read more. Specifically, I am interested to know how the community investment projects are decided on and who acts as project manager. How much input is sought from the communities in question?
ReplyDeleteAlso, looking at the map, it looks like all the areas slated for community improvements are north of the Thames. This seems strange to me, as I believe it is the neighborhoods south of the river that are traditionally home to a lower socioeconomic bracket, and in more critical need of city investment funds. These areas don't typically see the influx of tourist money that their neighbors north of the Thames benefit from.
Anyway, it will be interesting to keep an eye on this and to see how London grapples w/ increased congestion and other transport issues we're all dealing w/.