The DRF Lunchtime Clinic is delighted to have Professor Marcus Enoch, Professor in Transport Strategy and Leader of the Transport and Urban Planning Group from Loughborough University join the Clinic for his talk on Footpaths to the Future.
Walking forms an often significant component of almost all of the billions of journeys made by the vast majority of human beings around the world each day. Moreover, unlike alternative modes, walking is reliable, makes efficient use of space, is widely available to all socio-economic groups, is environmentally benign, provides individuals with substantial mental and physical health benefits, and requires relatively little investment to enable. Yet in practice, walking is treated as the ‘Cinderella’ of transport modes – virtuous but impoverished – and in consequence, walking activity per person has markedly declined. One potential reason for such a reduction is poor infrastructure provision. Consequently, this talk will focus on the humble footpath, and how ‘pavements’ or ‘sidewalks’ might evolve in the future. Specifically, it will consider: where will they be laid? What could be conveyed? And how might they be made?
Biography
Marcus Enoch is a professor of transport strategy at Loughborough University in the School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, where he is currently the head of the Transport and Urban Planning Group. His research interests focus on transport strategy – on transport systems impacted by governance, policy and broader contextual factors might change in the future, and about how providers and Government might best respond. His past work has largely focused on sustainable transport policy – particularly travel plans, and bus and DRT services – but more recently he has also begun to be obsessed by footpaths!