HighlightsCommitments within local government CEDs chart a course for faster community-level decarbonisation with participatory democracy. To move forward faster, local approaches must be equitable, coordinated and sufficiently resourced and empowered.

Just how much land do we devote to highways, not just road surfaces, but verges, embankments, cuttings, car parks, and other related infrastructure byproducts? Do the professionals planning our towns and cities know? This chapter introduces an analytical tool to estimate the land-take of highways using mapping techniques to produce a plan or percentage figure and makes a comparative analysis across other urban centres. The outcome might be linked to quite different measures of civic success such as urban happiness, pedestrian safety, or retail occupancy.