Streets and People S2E2 P&P James Laing: Making Cities Move with Active Travel
Jan 31, 2025
In this captivating conversation, James Laing, a cycle planner with experience in London and now in Melbourne, shares insights from his journey toward designing more accessible streets for cycling and walking. He discusses the inspiring effects of London’s Healthy Streets initiative and the challenges of traditional traffic models. Laing emphasizes the importance of community engagement, low-cost trials, and shifting focus from cars to people, proving that real urban transformation is possible when the narrative focuses on livability.
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From Car Engineering To Cycling Passion
- James Laing recounts discovering active travel work in London after designing car-focused intersections and seeing cycle superhighways emerge.
- That mix of engineering skill and new cycling focus shaped his career and approach to trade-offs.
Healthy Streets Changed The Conversation
- Healthy Streets broadened decisions beyond capacity models to include health, placemaking and safety.
- That shift enabled bold street reallocations that modelling-only approaches had blocked.
Challenge Institutional 'We Can't'
- Push beyond institutional fear: challenge assumptions inside organisations instead of defaulting to the 'we can't' response.
- Advocate for practical low-risk trials to show real outcomes rather than stopping at modeled objections.