19 August 2024

Redesigning places for long-term wellbeing

Silhouettes of people walking in park
Home Facts Redesigning places for long-term wellbeing

 

Redesigning places for long-term wellbeing

 

Our neighbourhoods must evolve to meet the challenge of climate change. That means upgrading our buildings, changing our infrastructure to enable us to travel differently and creating more attractive nature-friendly neighbourhoods that benefit our wellbeing.

 

 

 

Making the retrofit journey simple for York residents

 

The Retrofit One Stop Shop York (ROSSY) project is creating a simple way for York residents to find out more and start taking action to retrofit their homes. Based on a digital platform, the project will help people get bespoke advice and recommendations – both online and offline.

 

The platform will include an emphasis on education and inspiration, with retrofit brought to life through techniques such as before-and-after photos, timelapse videos and before-and-after data visualisations.

 

Residents will also be able to obtain in-person home energy assessments and have ongoing support from a personal advisor. They will be referred to relevant grants and financing options to help them find the most affordable way of achieving their goals.

 

Crucially, ROSSY will have a network of approved suppliers who have received training and meet standards, meaning that residents can have greater confidence and trust in the companies who will carry out the work on their homes.

 

 

Active travel unlocking health benefits in South Yorkshire

 

South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA)1 has put active travel at the heart of its strategy to tackle health inequalities and make the area the healthiest in the UK – demonstrating one of the key co-benefits of transport climate action.

 

The Authority is investing over £160 million to build new active travel projects over the next three years, with projects including segregated cycle lanes, walking routes and a doubling of ‘school streets’ schemes to enable more children to walk and cycle to school safely. South Yorkshire is also leading nationally in its e-bikes offer to residents with a pilot underway for a free e-cycle loan scheme.

 

The Active Travel Implementation Plan is combines infrastructure improvements (or ‘hardware’) with community engagement, support, training, and inspirational stories (the ‘software’) informed by behavioural insight research. In this way, the authority aims to deliver a fully connected network of 620 miles of new walking and cycle routes, to radically shift the culture around local transport, and to give people more opportunities and reasons to make walking and cycling part of their everyday lives. The region’s other Mayors, in West Yorkshire[1] and in York and North Yorkshire[2], have also set out ambitious plans for transport, so there is an opportunity for progress across our region.

 

[1] https://www.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/improving-transport/

[2] https://yorknorthyorks-ca.gov.uk/transport/

 

Imagining a future where car ownership isn’t necessary

 

INFUZE (Inspiring Futures for Zero Carbon Mobility) is a groundbreaking new collaboration that will ask communities across Leeds to help design bespoke mobility solutions, which could include car clubs, responsive taxi-style bus services and shared bicycle and scooter schemes.

 

INFUZE is seeking to demonstrate that there are better ways of designing the transport systems of the future so people can go when and where they want without needing to own their own car. The project will begin by listening to what people think, encouraging them to imagine different ways of travelling and use this insight to design better futures together with technical experts. Together with local delivery partners the project will go on to build and test trial systems for citizens to try, evaluate and improve.

 

The £7.8m plan is being led by the Institute for Transport Studies (ITS) at the University of Leeds, along with research partners The Royal College of Art and Lancaster University and is being funded by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council. It will eventually involve up to 400 households across the city and could lead to the creation of a national centre of excellence in low carbon alternatives to car ownership.

 

INFUZE is based on the premise that new technologies and shared transportation could keep people mobile with far less energy and carbon than individually owned cars. This could include bus transport on demand, tailoring the sizing of the mode of transport according to need, and powered light mobility options such as scooters or two-seater electric vehicles.

 

The project will take place over the next five years, increasing in scope and scale as it progresses.

Related