Pedestrian Count at Archway

Together with environmental and community charity London 21 (www.london21.org) and public design specialists Space Syntax (www.spacesyntax.com), BAF members conducted pedestrian counts of the key areas around Archway.

The aims of the surveys were to;

• Check current pedestrian levels at different times on weekdays and at the weekend.



• Compare numbers with figures for other areas - the most heavily used streets should get priority for improvements.



• Compare pedestrian and car use across the area so that in any redesign the largest group of users can be given the largest share of street space. (In the Walworth Road cars have been reduced to two lanes and pedestrian increased from two to four lanes).



• Provide information on how well the layout meets current needs or whether some pathways become too crowded and therefore uncomfortable to use. Examples of where this happens include:
  
  
  • in front of the Co-op (alleviated now that the pavement has been widened following BAF lobbying)
  
  
  
  • the top end of Holloway Road (e.g. between the Abacus show room and the Mother Redcap pub)
  
  
  
  • outside the tube station at certain time of the day (rush hour) where the number of users is often too high to move easily in the space left between the café tables and the kiosk stands when they are open at the same time
  
  
• The survey also shows that, subject to it being well designed, a street opened between the swimming pool and the current Archway Mall would probably be well used. Further investigation of the overall design will be necessary.

Pedestrian Figures for a Weekday

Pedestrian Figures for a Weekend

The London 21 Sustainability Network (www.london21.org) promotes, supports and networks community-based initiatives for a greener, healthier and more sustainable Greater London. BAF is one of six groups London 21 is working with to create online community environment maps and to design a toolkit for communities to evaluate and describe their own area.