Major update over future of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in England

A major update has been issued over the future of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in the UK. LTNs have popped up across the country, including in areas like Kings Heath in Birmingham, but they have come with controversy and divided responses.

Despite the backlash, LTNs are here to stay, according to the mastermind behind them. Carlos Moreno, a professor at the Sorbonne University in Paris and special envoy for smart cities for the mayor of Paris, says the idea has a simple premis.

He says city dwellers should be able to access most of their basic needs within a 15-minute walk or cycle. “During the last year, we have deployed this [15-minute city] concept in lot of places around the world,” Moreno told Cities Today.

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“In the UK, we had the backlash in cities like Oxford for example, but the local elections which followed this were very positive for mayors that have embraced this concept.” Moreno says that given each city’s different size, topography and individual characteristics, it may be time to revaluate the emphasis on “15-minutes”.

“The 15-minute city has become the X minute city, because we have a lot of different implementations around the world and each one of these is specific to the local context," he said. “For example, there’s a wonderful implementation [of the concept] in a small town in Poland with 15,000 inhabitants, but this is so different to Melbourne’s implementation of the 20-minute city.”

Dr Ruth Pritchett from the Institute of Applied Health Research at the University of Birmingham said previously: “Residents on streets with modal filters generally reported enjoying decreased traffic and a better environment. However, residents of roads without filters, disabled car users and those who said they needed a car for work or commuting reported negative experiences of increased traffic, poor air quality and inconvenient journeys."

She said: “It is important to note that the schemes considered in our study were introduced in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, which also affected traffic flow and peoples experience of their neighbourhoods. Nonetheless, this study demonstrates the need for careful consideration of the interwoven effect of different roads, schools and businesses within a neighbourhood when designing future LTNs for the UK’s second largest city.”