TY - JOUR

T1 - Walking spaces

T2 - Changing pedestrian practices in Britain since c. 1850

AU - Pooley, Colin

N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Journal of Transport History, 42, 2 (2021), 2021, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2020 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Journal of Transport History page: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/jthc on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/

PY - 2021/6/1

Y1 - 2021/6/1

N2 - Walking is one of the most sustainable and healthy forms of everyday travel over short distances, but pedestrianism has declined substantially in almost all countries over the past century. This paper uses a combination of personal testimonies and government reports to examine how the spaces through which people travel have changed over time, to chart the impacts that such changes have had on pedestrian mobility, and to consider the shifts that are necessary to revitalise walking as a common form of everyday travel. In the nineteenth century, most urban spaces were not especially conducive to walking, but many people did walk as they had little alternative and the sheer number of pedestrians meant that they could dominate urban space. In the twentieth century successive planning decisions have reshaped cities making walking appear both harder and riskier. Motorised transport has been normalised and pedestrianism marginalised. Only radical change will reverse this.

AB - Walking is one of the most sustainable and healthy forms of everyday travel over short distances, but pedestrianism has declined substantially in almost all countries over the past century. This paper uses a combination of personal testimonies and government reports to examine how the spaces through which people travel have changed over time, to chart the impacts that such changes have had on pedestrian mobility, and to consider the shifts that are necessary to revitalise walking as a common form of everyday travel. In the nineteenth century, most urban spaces were not especially conducive to walking, but many people did walk as they had little alternative and the sheer number of pedestrians meant that they could dominate urban space. In the twentieth century successive planning decisions have reshaped cities making walking appear both harder and riskier. Motorised transport has been normalised and pedestrianism marginalised. Only radical change will reverse this.

KW - mobility

KW - Planning

KW - Pedestrians

KW - Automobility

KW - Sustainability

U2 - 10.1177/0022526620940558

DO - 10.1177/0022526620940558

M3 - Journal article

VL - 42

SP - 227

EP - 246

JO - Journal of Transport History

JF - Journal of Transport History

SN - 0022-5266

IS - 2

ER -