The humble pavement remains an often overlooked, yet essential, piece of infrastructure in our UK villages, towns and
cities. Pavements represent the vital, connective tissue that unites our neighbourhoods. They serve as the meeting point
where bustling streets intersect with the facades of buildings, blurring the boundaries between public and private domains.
At this crossroads lies a realm of transformative possibilities. However, cuts to government spending on pavement design,
construction and maintenance, coupled with extreme variability in pavement quality and accessibility, and the dissolving
focus on the value of local neighbourhoods post-COVID has meant that this vital infrastructure is being neglected, forgotten
and taken for granted.
Rather than continue to ignore this most important infrastructure, our aim is to draw attention to pavements and reimagine
them as 'sustainability catalysts'. In this sense, we want to focus on new ways of using pavements to foster a deeper
connection to our surroundings that is rooted in a profound sense of place (social sustainability); new models of funding to
help pay for pavements (economic sustainability), and; new innovations in pavement design that can create a net zero
future (environmental sustainability). To do this, we will undertake research in different UK villages, towns and cities in the
North of England and Wales, working with local communities, local authorities and other important stakeholders. With them,
we will understand the issues that are fundamental to pavements and, crucially, design and produce ideas together for new
pavement design that will positively transform local places.
Findings from this project have the potential to be scaled up from the very local environments where our research will take
place to all UK villages, towns and cities that wish to improve the sustainability of their pavements. This is especially useful
for Planning departments, urban designers and civil engineers that are directly designing, constructing and maintaining
pavements. This research also can benefit academics because of the way that pavements will be uniquely explored from
different angles and disciplines that span the social sciences and design. Finally local communities can benefit from this
research, as they look for ways to reignite their sense of place and connection to their neighbourhoods, that is, by placing
pavements at the heart of their social lives and making them 'sustainability catalysts'.