‘It isn’t safe to walk’: how would young people plan UK streets? | Environment | The Guardian
A radical project in east London is putting children and young people at the heart of the debate over liveable communities
Harriet GrantThu 19 Nov 2020 11.09 GMT
“I have good memories of playing out,” says 17-year-old Sajidul Islam. “Big games of football with all my friends.” He thinks young people should be asked more often what they like about their neighbourhoods. “But I think they prefer to ask people with degrees.”
His classmate Ahona Zaman describes her journey to school, walking through a dark underpass beneath a dual carriageway. “I love cycling but it’s too dangerous.”
These teenagers in Poplar, east London, are growing up in an intensely urban neighbourhood. Low-rise houses, brightly painted shops and cramped parks push up against the constant hum of the A12. The streets are boxed in by major roads, and cranes and towers fill the skyline.
