Streets vs Roads- Recap from AITPM

I attended one of the AITPM Conferences last night and learnt a lot from the speaker; Phil Jones (PGA Group of companies). He spoke about the difference between streets and roads and the comparison in complexity and how they are used.

• Roads: single use, getting you from point A to B.
• Streets: multi use, multi user (cars, bikes, scooters, people) and form part of the community creating public interaction.

I hadn’t really ever thought about this before when talking to candidates about their design/modelling experience; I should probably delve deeper into this going forward (and now feel more comfortable to do so). Phil closed the presentation by addressing the traffic engineers/transport modellers in the room and said you are all ‘urban designers’. Despite different titles, the roles are responsible for designing our public realm and not only getting us from A to B but placemaking so that we have access and are drawn to certain buildings/attractions in the space whether that be shops, restaurants, churches, town halls etc. It was cool to hear a story about increased foot traffic to a local church in the UK because of some creative street/pavement design which basically led pedestrians to the front door.

I also liked some of the things Phil spoke about with regards to ‘active transport’ and how to achieve that. He basically said we need to make car drivers ‘uncomfortable’ and make it hard for them in the areas we are targeting so that they do think twice about getting in their car; and instead look at public transport, ride sharing or even better ; walking/cycling. As much as I’m one to get ‘cranky’ when I can’t find a park, it’s true that it makes you question your mode of transport and often decide against driving- job done!

Definitely a worthwhile event and good to connect with some new contacts in the Transport industry- I love working in this space! Thank you AITPM,the sponsors and Phil Jones for the presentation.

Phil Jones Group Associates click here:https://pja.co.uk/

If you are interested in joining AITPM or attending an event click here: https://www.aitpm.com.au/events

If you would like to talk about attracting employees or are you are looking for a new opportunity yourself- please get in touch with me at [email protected] or 0732329139.