Covid-19 related restrictions are forcing public transport services to operate with less capacity. In response, trips are being channelled to walking and cycling. We use shortest-path analysis to identify all street-level connections between all rail and underground stations in inner London. We are able to identify the critical pathways which show a long tail distribution and a radial/cellular spatial pattern. We visually compare this network with the existing cycling network, and explore two scenarios of street interventions in 8 critical pathways using streetspace cross-section analysis. The methods presented here can offer valuable analytical capacity for developing new cycling and walking schemes and designing place-based streets that are more appropriate to control virus propagation.

This paper describes streetspace allocation analysis, a method that uses street cross-sections to measure footway and carriageway widths and quantify a key parameter of street design citywide. The resulting network-based streetspace allocation metrics are employed on a proof-of-concept study of train station service areas in London, applying shortest-path analysis under a place and walking prioritisation approach. Overall, streetspace allocation statistics for London confirm the citywide predominance of space allocated for vehicular transport over pedestrian uses. A comparison of the current distribution and proposed re-allocation of streetspace on streets near stations allows for the investigation of the effects of streetspace enhancements, which tend to be beneficial in reducing pedestrian movement impedance and extending service areas. The methods presented here can offer valuable analytical capacity for developing new transit-oriented schemes and designing place-based streets that support sustainable transport and sustainable urban development.

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The unrelenting global recession has intensified pressure on the public realm to mediate between different actors vying to assert political rights, economic claims, and social expression. Multidisciplinary frameworks for reading economic systems as integral to the design and lived experience of the public realm have shaped our conceptualisation of the financial crisis as a city design problem. The following body of work offers a sociospatial and political analysis of the City of London as a 'business as usual' city in which private interests trump public good. Through a design-based proposal for policy intervention and physical restructuring that radically alters the City's socio-spatial realities, we re-imagine the City of London as a true public city for the 21st century. Where productivity stems from the residential diversity, urban intensity and inclusive public spaces that significantly increasing residential numbers in the City brings.