City Know-hows
Our new mixed-methods research highlights the importance of traffic calming and footway improvements to enhance disabled people’s journeys, accesses and health.
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Target audience
National and local officers involved in built environment and transport decisions. Organisations led by people with disabilities.
The problem
Low Traffic Neighbourhoods are being introduced in UK cities to reduce motorised through-traffic in residential areas, create better conditions for walking, wheeling and cycling, and change the hierarchy of uses in public spaces. Existing evidence shows that schemes work and generate important public health benefits. However, the experiences of disabled people with these schemes have yet to be explored. This is important because public space and the built environment are important facilitators and barriers in the lives of disabled people.
What we did and why
We used mixed-method research to understand how Low Traffic Neighbourhoods affect disabled people journeys. We collected pixelated video data in three Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (and matched control sites). We counted people walking and wheeling with mobility aids before and after Low Traffic Neighbourhoods’ implementation. We interpreted any increase in this quantity as indicator for roads being more welcoming for residents with disabilities. We then qualitatively analysed the videos, together with focus groups and interviews with disabled people, to understand whether the Low Traffic Neighbourhoods were associated with changes in the quality of journeys made.
Our study’s contribution
The analysis revealed the potential for Low Traffic Neighbourhoods to improve disabled people’s access, but also the need for further actions. Quantitatively, we observed modest positive trends in the number of pedestrians using mobility aids. Qualitative analysis showed that where significant reductions in traffic were achieved, mobility aid users travelled more smoothly. However, we also observed that poor footway quality continued to make walking and wheeling difficult. These footways need to be widened and smoothed to meaningfully improve disabled people’s journeys.
Impacts for city policy and practice
Our study provides further evidence of the importance of understanding accessibility as a complex, multi-factorial process. Improving accessibility means not only reducing the dominance of traffic, but also addressing the structural and material barriers that the built environment creates for disabled people. While Low Traffic Neighbourhoods offer opportunities to improve accessibility for some, their success depends on a wider commitment to inclusive design and infrastructure improvements that prioritise diverse needs.
Further information
Full research article:
[OPEN ACCESS] Walking and wheeling in Low Traffic Neighbourhoods: A mixed methods study of mobility aid users’ interactions with changing public spaces by Ersilia Verlinghieri, Harriet Larrington-Spencer, Alisha Pathania, Anna Goodman, Jamie Furlong and Rachel Aldred.
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