They don't say how they devised the list, but Florence tops it, followed by the likes of Paris, Sydney and Edinburgh, which they say is "steeped in history" but still possesses "a cutting-edge contemporary feel".
Edinburgh is the only UK town to make the cut. But do you think others deserve a place on the list? Let us know which town or city you think is the most (and least) pedestrian-friendly and why by adding your comments below.
The first images of the capital's new Routemaster bus were unveiled yesterday by London mayor Boris Johnson. Plans to replace the original Routemaster - which was withdrawn from regular service in 2005 by former mayor Ken Livingstone - were a key part of Johnson's 2008 election manifesto. He said that the updated vehicle would give passengers a "greener, light and airy" service.
Here's what critics have so far had to say about the new design...
Jonathan Glancey, the Guardian's architecture correspondent: "Good points? It looks distinctive, boasts three doors and two staircases, and has an internal layout that promises to b easy to use and as comfortable as possible for a rush-hour London bus ... Bad points? A jazzily, and unnecessarily asymmetrical, front, a claustrophobic windowless rear and a jagged run of windows up the stairs that might have been adopted from a Deconstructivist museum designed by Daniel Libeskind."
Andrew Gilligan, the Telegraph's London editor: "This design can, and must, still be changed. Because in its current form, it is simply not worth bothering with ... The new Routemaster design is actually worse than current double-deckers. It has two staircases. Why? Why not go the whole hog as well, and install a lift, and perhaps also a buffet, and a small Tie Rack outlet? It has three doors. Why? Why can’t disabled passengers enter through the front door if the bus is in one-person mode? It is claimed to be 'better-ventilated' than modern sauna buses, but the pictures show no opening windows."
Everyone has had a nightmare experience at a railway station.
Common gripes include being confronted by a post-7pm retail desert, non-existent disabled access, leaky roofs or dodgy unlit areas. Most of those used to traveling by rail in England will no doubt be able to reel off a list of their least favourite stations.
Now the Government has its own list. The Station Champions’ report commissioned by the Department for Transport and written by Sir Peter Hall, Professor of Planning and Regeneration at the University College London (and R&R columnist), and Chris Green, the non-executive director of Network Rail, named and shamed the ten worst rail stations in England, as determined by customer satisfaction surveys.
According to the list, Manchester Victoria (photos above by Gene Hunt and below by Phil Beard) is the worst station in England, followed by Clapham Junction and then Crewe. Then, in descending order, the others were Warrington Bank Quay, Barking, Preston, Wigan North Western, Luton, Liverpool Central and Stockport.
Already there are those jumping to the defence of these maligned hubs. One commentator suggests the peeling paint at south London’s Clapham Junction is a small price to pay for a station that provides trains every couple of minutes that can whisk you away to the seaside, the City or the suburbs.
Clearly, then, there is disagreement in what makes a bad station. Is safety more important than car parking, for example? Does availability of staff trump the services on offer? Or are other rail stations more deserving of a place in the worst ten? Cramped Victoria, perhaps, or prefab-tastic Euston? Poorly laid-out Birmingham New Street or depressing Didcot Parkway? Or how about dank-smelling Twickenham or underwhelming Coventry? We want to know if you agree with the report’s choice of worst offenders. Vote in our poll at the top right of this blog.
London mayor Boris Johnson stopped the traffic for five minutes on Oxford Circus yesterday, to officially open a Tokyo-inspired diagonal crossing that will allow pedestrians to traverse in all directions one of Europe’s busiest intersections. The redesigned crossing, part of a scheme in the West End approved by Westminster City Council, is modelled on Hachiko crossing in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, where an awful lot of pedestrians weave their way to the other side of the road every day. A handful of Londoners acknowledged the inspiration, dressing up as their favourite Japanese manga character.
The makeover, which included removing guardrails and other clutter, has increased the amount of pavement space by nearly 70 per cent, Transport for London says. We went to Oxford Circus to see how commuters felt about the new crossing.
“To be able to move away from the panic of cyclists and traffic around you feels quite liberating,” said Leeroy Milton, who works in retail and negotiated the 25 metre crossing quite smoothly. “I was able to swing my arms quite a bit. I’ve always found the amount of time it takes to navigate this area very frustrating. I think it will give priority back to pedestrians.”
Whether or not Oxford Circus’ 32,000 pedestrians per hour can pass through it as unflappably as their counterparts in Shibuya remain to be seen. Tokyoites don’t tend to swing their elbows with quite the same force that Londoners do. (However, preliminary eye-witness accounts reported no incidents.)
But it did make us think, what will be the next Tokyo trend to be adopted by London’s mayor? White-gloved wardens to push commuters onto rush-hour trains? Boris cycling to City Hall in a cosplay-style maid outfit?
It seems appropriate to give the last word to a Japanese. “It felt pretty familiar,” said Teppei Inamoto, a London-based freelance graphic designer, when asked about his Oxford Circus saunter. “I think Londoners will be fine walking diagonally - once they get used to it.”
Environmentalists and transport campaigners will be hoping that Nottingham’s example sets a precedent for others to follow. Milton Keynes has already expressed an interest in workplace parking levies and with public finances succumbing to increasing pressures, other councils will also be watching Nottingham with interest.
Nottingham City Council has rebutted accusations that imposing new financial burdens on local businesses is economic suicide by imposing a two-year delay on the scheme so it won’t be until 2012 that employers have to cough up the charge. Notwithstanding this caveat, backing the levy is a brave move. Introducing new taxes is never going to be popular. In a recession it could seem foolhardy, especially when it runs up against the vociferous motoring lobby and an embattled business sector.
Earlier in the year, council leaders in Greater Manchester played it safe by rejecting proposals to introduce a workplace parking levy in the city-region. Parking levies may be a less contentious way of raising funds for public transport improvements than congestion charging but there still appears to be little public appetite for such schemes and I suspect that many councils will be happy to sit back and watch the drama unfold in Nottingham before putting their own cards on the table.
Even in Nottingham the battle is not over. The future of the workplace parking levy isn’t guaranteed - the Tory-run County Council administration has already publicly stated its opposition to the scheme. Conservatives members at the City Council also voted against the levy and should they take control of the city at the next election the scheme could be scuppered. Transport campaigners may be wise to to hold off on the champagne for now.
Oxford Street is set for a taste of Tokyo. Oxford Circus, the intersection between London's most famous shopping street and the elegant Regent Street, is to be reworked. Under the plans, traffic approaching the crossroads from all four directions will be halted simultaneously at red lights, allowing pedestrians to cross diagonally as well as straight ahead en masse. The scheme, modelled on the Shibuya crossing in the Japanese capital, will also see much of the ugly street clutter and barriers that blight Oxford Circus removed.
That may help, but it won't help enough. Inexplicably – certainly to Londoners, many of whom try their best to avoid it – Oxford Circus is among the world's top destinations, getting 200 million visitors a year. For visitors from smaller countries, the concentration of so many big retail brands in a long, wide thoroughfare may command awe, briefly, but it doesn't take much more than a second glance to see that London's shopping heartland is something approaching a national disgrace. Londoners may know there are plenty of better areas to spend a Saturday shopping in the capital, many visitors don't.
Blessed with a grand boulevard and fine buildings, Oxford Street has managed to fashion a sow's ear from a silk purse. The pavements are way too narrow to accommodate the throng of confused tourists and exasperated locals that blend awkwardly in the area. Shabby transitory retailers pollute the Tottenham Court Road end of the street. There is clutter everywhere – poor signage, ugly street furniture and unlicensed advertisements for such delights as the never-ending golf sale. But the area's fundamental problem is its traffic.
In spite of being closed to general traffic, Oxford Street is plagued by motor vehicles. These are chiefly buses moving at a snail's pace in a noisy, smelly, grumbling thin red lines; plus a few cabs with frustrated drivers and the odd lost boy-racer in a sports car. The air quality and environment is unpleasant – even crossing the road can be an ordeal.
A few pilot traffic-free days run by the New West End Company have been hits with shoppers, so the question is, instead of messing about with Tokyo-style pedestrian crossings, why not abolish traffic in Oxford Street completely and open up the street to pedestrians? Some people will moan that they can no longer catch their bus from outside, say, John Lewis, but this is a price worth paying. A clever programme of re-routing would do the trick, and people would get used to it.
Many of the world's best shopping areas are pedestrianised – including many in London itself, such as Covent Garden. It seems ludicrous that its biggest draw is relegated to monumental embarrassment by the smoke and choke of jammed-up traffic.
