Imagine a relaxing European city break. Do you see roads lined with cars, or quiet cobbled streets lined with cafes?
Research shows there’s no reason our most vibrant urban centres can’t be more like Europe’s most charming getaway destinations. Here are some reasons London’s Sicilian Avenue embodies everything that walkability has to offer.
1. Wellbeing
There’s a reason walkability is synonymous with the world’s most charming historic towns: research shows walkability improves the physical and mental wellbeing of residents and visitors. Walkable urban spaces also tend to have lower levels of noise and air pollution.
2. Pedestrianised streets are far safer
It’s a no-brainer: time and again, studies from around the world show that when cars are taken out of the equation, injuries and fatalities plummet. To pick one example, in New York’s Times Square, pedestrianisation caused walking to go up 11%, along with 35% fewer pedestrian accidents and 63% less vehicular accidents.
3. Walkability is in Sicilian Avenue’s DNA
Throughout the 20th century, as the motorcar became ubiquitous, town planners gradually forgot that cities should be for two-legged people, and began designing them for four-wheeled vehicles. The result: our urban centres became noisy, smog-choked circuits that were simply no fun to be around. Architect R.J. Worley, who designed London’s Sicilian Avenue, wasn’t having any of that. He completed the Avenue in 1910, just as the age of the motorcar was dawning. Protected at either end by marble colonnades, it’s a place that cars have never been.
4. It’s a key part of London’s bigger picture
Sicilian Avenue is an old-world reminder that, in the 21st century, we can do so much better. Now, planners, residents and business owners alike are joining forces on a quest to make London one of the world’s top walkable cities. Between 2016 and 2024, new regulations and investments in public transport, cycling and walkability have caused air pollution in London to fall faster than anywhere else in the country. At the same time, the number of people choosing to walk or cycle around the capital continues to rise.
5. Walkable cities are better for business
Wherever they’ve been studied, from New York to Seoul, walkable neighbourhoods have been found to dramatically increase footfall to businesses and restaurants. Research carried out in London found that people who walk to their nearest high street spend about 40% more in businesses than people who drive. And the news is even better for eateries: for example, a recent pedestrianisation project in Shrewsbury saw an immediate 66% rise in food and beverage sales.
In keeping with plans to reimagine Holborn as a neighbourhood, Sicilian Avenue today offers an elusive combination of tranquility and space. In a locality that received more than 4,000 visitors per hour in 2023, its blend of old-world charm and new-world accessibility is going to land it on everyone’s London Top 10 destination to visit. Book with confidence.