This guide is designed to help practitioners improve cities and streets for walking. It sets out seven steps to a walking city which will lead to healthier, more economically successful, greener and stronger communities. The seven steps are based on examples of best practice and contain a range of suggested policies and programmes. They include:1. Make walking a priority2. Plan...
This study, published by the British Medical Journal, has found a link between cycling and halving the risk of cancer and heart disease. The five-year study of 250,000 UK commuters also showed walking had some benefits over sitting on public transport or taking the car. The study also found that incorporating cycling into a daily routine took much...
Sustrans has launched a new five year strategy addressing the challenges of today and setting out a concrete pledge to make it easier for people to walk and cycle. The strategy has three areas of focus: 1. Connective people and places through routes and networks for leisure and everyday utility trips. 2. Creating liveable neighbourhoods, by working with communities to...
This report highlights the significant social, economic, environmental and political benefits of walking. It investigates the role of walking in developing more liveable, sustainable, healthy, safe and attractive cities. It outlines 50 drivers of change covering social, technological, economic, environment and political domains, 50 benefits that should be achievable and demonstrable by quantitative and qualitative measurements, 40 actions and policies...
Levels of physical activity remain low, particularly in deprived areas. Improving the street environment to promote walking for transport using a community engagement approach is a potential strategy to increase physical activity. This research paper aims to understand better how this type of intervention is implemented and how it can be replicated in deprived neighbourhoods. It evaluated the implementation of...
This new guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) covers how to improve the physical environment to encourage and support physical activity. The aim is to increase the general population’s physical activity levels. The recommendations in this guideance should be read alongside NICE's guideline on physical activity: walking and cycling. This guidance includes recommendations on: • active...
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and HM Revenue & Customs have issued guidance on using the tax system to offer gym memberships and sports facilities to staff. This guidance provides some advice that employers can put into practice straight away to help their workforce become healthier. The government introduced Cycle to Work in 1999 - an...
With the average working-age adults sitting for 9.5 hours a day, we are aiming to reverse the trend of inactive workplaces and celebrate employers who are getting their staff moving. Walk at Work Award is a new accreditation which will recognise employers who are promoting walking and physical activity and offer guidance to those who want their workforce to become more active....
Active Design is an innovative set of design guidelines to get more people moving through suitable design and layout. Decisions made through the planning system often provide the opportunity to create the right environment to help people get more active, more often. Active Design provides practical guidance and principles that can be used in the day to day work of...
The Thames Vision is the framework for the development of the Tidal Thames between 2016-2035. It has been developed with stakeholders over 18 months, starting in Spring 2015. The vision covers six goals for growth and actions to deliver these goals. This document covers the context for the vision, the goals and priority actions, the governance framework and how the...