Can healthier streets really also be wealthier? In London, moves are afoot to create a city where people live longer, and are less depressed and prone to killer diseases such as heart disease - and London’s businesses report that the drive towards pedestrianisation is helping to revive Britain’s urban economies, too, with pedestrians spending more and lingering longer.
On the front line of this initiative are car-free streets such as Sicilian Avenue, a deliciously quirky diagonal thoroughfare that was car-free long before streets such as Carnaby Street. The street - complete with its own classical-styled street sign, complete with columns - is reopening soon as a destination in bustling Holborn, with coffee shops and eateries built to tempt workers onto their feet, and into the streets. The end result of such streets will be cleaner air, thriving businesses - and healthier outcomes for the whole of London.
A Sicilian Avenue to Healthier Lifestyles and Cleaner Air?
Dr Will Norman, London’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner, said, “London is facing an inactivity crisis. Over decades, machines, cars and technology have gradually taken over many of the tasks that used to require physical effort. More than 40 per cent of Londoners do not achieve the recommended 150 minutes of activity a week; and 28 per cent do less than 30 minutes a week. Almost without realising it, we have engineered physical activity out of our daily lives.”
Sicilian Avenue - The Healthy Streets Approach
Research by Transport for London highlights how the many health benefits of walking (including reducing chronic diseases such as diabetes and dementia) naturally goes hand in hand with financial benefits for local traders and the area at large. Research by TfL found that walking improvements in an area was accompanied by a 17% decline in empty shops, with people on foot spending 40% more every month than car drivers.
It’s good for the people on foot, as they are taking the first steps towards a healthier lifestyle, and it’s good for the local area, with shops thriving. London’s Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) - where local businesses invest together - see walking and cycling as important to boosting business performance.
Sicilian Avenue Research Graph - When working or conducting business in London, what food and beverage options do you choose, if any? Workers
For businesses in an area, it’s clear that health and generating wealth go hand in hand, too: in research by Sicilian Avenue, 53% of business owners like to eat in a restaurant or cafe, compared to 36% of workers - and 11% actually work from such establishments, compared to 4% of workers. Health and wealth truly do go hand in hand in London’s streets.
Sicilian Avenue Graph - When working or conducting business in London, what food and beverage options do you choose, if any? Business owners