Good for business
The following is excerpted from our Healthy Active by Design evidence paper 'Good for business: The health and economic benefits of making main streets and town centres more walkable'. Full references are provided in the report.
While the health and environmental benefits of walkable streets and town centres are widely recognised, the economic benefits are often overlooked. The result is that land use decisions and business cases often favour car travel despite a significant body of evidence supporting the economic case for prioritising walkability.
Over the past 30 years, many research studies have explored the link between retail spending in town centres and the customer’s mode of access. The findings consistently demonstrate that active transport users, especially those on foot, have higher cumulative spending over time than people who drive cars.
Improved walkability and higher quality business districts which offer enjoyable, comfortable experiences result in more people visiting more often, staying longer and spending more.
Planning for walking, wheeling, bike riding and use of public transport to access business districts requires a complete network across the whole walking catchment, with direct links to key destinations such as shops, workplaces and services. High-quality footpaths and protected cycling lanes are the minimum infrastructure needed to encourage active travel to – and within – business districts.
Walking is often overlooked and under-appreciated for the role it plays as a transport mode to main streets and town centres. The hidden nature of walking, wheeling and bike riding to town centres and main streets may be the cause of some of the misperceptions (about people's mode of arrival to main streets and town centres).
Another potential cause of misperception about shoppers’ arrival mode and spend is consensus bias. This phenomenon occurs when a person’s behaviour influences their assumptions about the behaviour of others.
The importance of car access and parking in town centres and main streets is often overemphasised, at the potential expense of otherwise being able to make these areas more walkable and economically vibrant... Car parking infrastructure can create physical and perceptual barriers to the free movement of people walking, wheeling, and bike riding in town centres and along main streets.
Reducing traffic speed in business districts is a proven way to provide safety, comfort and attractiveness to support business success. Traffic calming measures combined with limits of 30 km/h or less create safer, more inviting streets for people accessing local shops and services. Reallocating street space for people walking, wheeling and riding bikes is equally important. Converting kerb-side parking, portions of the roadway or even entire streets to people-centred use are ways to achieve this. These two strategies are mutually reinforcing. Implemented together, speed reduction and space reallocation foster commercially vibrant and popular main streets and town centres.
To maximise the economic benefits for local business, design of town centres and main streets should:
- Improve walking, wheeling and bike riding access to town centres and main streets to deliver greater footfall.
- Enhance amenity in town centres and main streets by ensuring connected, comfortable and attractive environments with places to dwell and ‘sticky streets’.
- Reallocate some car parking spaces to create higher quality environments for walking, wheeling and bike riding.
- Reduce the maximum speed limit of motorised traffic in town centres and main streets to 30 km/ hr or less.
More walkable business districts support economic vitality and are good for heart health.
Find out more in the full report:
https://www.healthyactivebydesign.com.au/resources/publications_and_policies