Active Design Consultation Draft Guidance

Active Design
January 2023
Active Design
Consultation Draft
January 2023
Note: Yellow highlights represent sections to be added / infographics / suggested imagery /

formatting
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Active Design
January 2023
Foreword
To be provided / drafted for Chris Boardman/Chris Witty/Jeanelle de Gruchy
What is Active Design?
Active Design is all about how the design of our environments can help people to lead more physically
active and healthy lifestyles. It's about helping to create 'Active Environments'.
Active Environments are the spaces and places for people to be active. They are not just focussed
on delivering opportunities for sport and formal exercise. Instead, they seek to encourage physical
activity – such as walking, cycling, sport, exercise, children’s play, outdoor leisure and anything else
that maximises opportunities for people to be active. Physical activity can also improve mental health
of adults and children.
Where we live, work, travel and play have a major role in shaping our activity choices. By following
Active Design principles in the design of our built environments, we can create Active Environments
that will encourage people to be active through their everyday lives.
With a shared belief and commitment to the great value that well designed places can have on
peoples health and wellbeing, SE, ATE and OHID have come together to produce this updated version
of the Active Design guide.
Through the promotion of its 10 principles, the guide seeks to help planners, designers and everyone
involved in delivering and managing the built environment create and maintain Active Environments.
There are Ten Principles of Active Design:
New infographic showing the 10 principles - fundamental principle of Activity for All, and then
grouped into three themes, Supporting Active Travel, High Quality, Active Places and Delivery and
Activation
Each principle sets out an aim, an explanation of how to achieve the aim through good planning,
design and collaboration across related sectors, and a series of illustrated sub-principles that provide
more in-depth guidance for planners and design practitioners.
To demonstrate successful implementation of the ten principles, the guide is supporting by a suite
of resources, including:
• ‘Applying the Principles’: A series of illustrative places and in-depth case study examples,
covering many different contexts
• A model planning policy for local development plans
• A checklist to assess development proposals against the ten principles
It is intended that the illustrative places, guides and case studies will be added to over time to create
an Active Design library of useful resources.
There is also a companion guide (Designing for Physical Activity Handbook) that provides ideas and
examples for those wishing to get more people physically active, that are based on the principles of
Active Design. This guide is accompanied by a suite of documents providing advice on specific topics
such as routes and wayfinding and activity hubs.
Infographic which shows how this Active Design Document works with illustrative places, case
studies and companion guides
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Why Create Active Environments?
The places and environments we inhabit have a considerable effect on our behaviours and lifestyles.
Places that provide opportunities for people to lead physically active lifestyles can positively impact
people's physical and mental wellbeing. But the opposite can also be true, and where the design of
a place creates barriers by making it difficult, unpleasant or inconvenient to be active, people are
less likely to decide to live an active lifestyle.
The UK Chief Medical Officer’s Physical Activity Guidelines suggest that most adults should achieve
at least 150 minutes of moderately intensive exercise every week, and children aged 5-18 should
average 60 minutes per day 1. Active Environments recognises the importance of achieving this, and
that the places and spaces around us can have a positive or negative impact on whether, how, when,
and where we are active. A 2016 study across 14 cities and towns around the world found that those
living in what it termed activity-friendly neighbourhoods took as much as 90 minutes more exercise
a week than those who lived elsewhere 2.
Creating Active Environments is not singularly about the provision and access to sporting facilities.
The simplest way of exercising daily is getting around by walking, wheeling (using a wheelchir or
mobility aid), cycling or other active means. A daily walk to or from work, school, a nearby bus stop,
a nearby town centre, or any of the other daily activities we all undertake would go a huge way
towards meeting daily physical activity targets. Sadly, too many places make this difficult, either
through poor design of the routes to get there, inadequate facilities once we arrive, or land use
patterns lead to longer travel distances. An Active Environment should encourage an individual to
make the active choice.
Well-designed places can most inclusively support physically active lifestyles for the widest variety
of groups through the activation of spaces and facilities and ongoing programmes. Support from
activity champions and an effective monitoring, maintenance and management regime that seeks
long-term benefit for communities are also essential parts of an Active Environment.
Activity statistics INFOGRAPHIC
The benefits of daily activity to the individual are clear and simple. People who get more daily
exercise are fitter, healthier and suffer fewer of the chronic diseases that are becoming increasingly
prevalent as the UK population gets older and more sedentary. Physical and mental health improves,
and health services can reduce costs associated with long-term conditions. As identified in Sport
England’s Uniting the Movement strategy, Active Design has a significant role in helping reduce
inequalities of access, such as designing spaces for women, reducing barriers for those with
disabilities and people with long term health conditions.
The benefits of places that encourage activity go beyond just public health. Compact, walkable linked
neighbourhoods designed for people first instead of the car are more environmentally friendly, have
fewer carbon emissions, increase social inclusion and interaction, have better air quality, and are
more economically productive. Designing places that can help people be more active is a positive
move for a wide range of modern planning and societal priorities.
National planning policy supports and encourages the creation of Active Environments. Through the
National Planning Policy Framework, the National Design Guide and the National Model Design Code,
places that prioritise activity, health and the characteristics that underpin active environments are
encouraged and recommended. Department for Transport guidance such as Manual for Streets, LTN
1/20 and Inclusive Mobility supports and enables interventions in active travel.
How to use Active Design

This new edition of Active Design has been streamlined to support the work of planners, policy
makers, designers, developers and other professional groups working in the design and development
of the places around us.
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Planners and policy makers can use Active Design to:
• Develop Local Plan and Neighbourhood Plan policies and other relevant guidance that
support activity, in particular site allocations;
• Develop Masterplans, Development Frameworks, Design Briefs and Design Codes for specific
development allocations and developments;
• Identify and support key public projects and activation programmes that can deliver activity
benefits;
• Help support other priorities and agendas for the area, such as helping to tackle climate
change, or increase biodiversity through new developments;
• Structure and assist pre-application discussions;
• Make decisions on planning applications and planning obligations;
• Continue to monitor and manage spaces and places to ensure continued activity;
• Engage with health professionals and use the Health Impact Assessments to support
planning applications; and,
• Ensure new developments are accessible and enable activity for all members of the
community.
Designers and developers can use Active Design to:
• Embed activity in design proposals from the start using the Ten Principles;
• Develop Masterplans, Development Frameworks, Design Briefs and Design Codes for
specific development allocations and developments;
• Demonstrate clearly how planning applications support Local Plan policies and guidance on
health, activity and sport;
• Create places that are truly active, healthy and accessible, delivering quality of life benefits
to new residents, employees and visitors; and
• Appraise completed developments to feed into reviews of approaches, design codes and
future work.
Other professional groups can use Active Design to:
• Inform dialogue with planning colleagues and elected members;
• Prepare or assess Health Impact Assessments, and local health strategies, that address
physical activity goals;
• Demonstrate how specific aspects of the built environment, such as transport, active travel,
landscape and open space provision, and technical fields such as drainage, heritage and
others, can fit into a holistic approach that supports physical activity;
• Engage with Local Plan-making processes to ensure that health and activity remain at the
top of the agenda; and
• Be effective consultees on planning applications and other proposals, especially those with
ongoing benefits or obligations surrounding health and activity.
How Active Design relates to other guidance
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Active Design is focused on increasing physical activity throughout the built environment, and
particularly focuses on the interventions that planning and design professions can affect. Many of
these have cross-over to other areas of policy, such as climate change. Where this occurs Active
Design highlights fundamental areas as part of the Themes where physical activity complements
another area, but does not provide detailed guidance outside of those subjects that directly promote
physical activity. This is to ensure alignment between the two areas, whilst retaining focus.
Some topics, such as good street design, have importance for promoting physical activity but also
have many other detailed design considerations that are best tackled in other documents. Where
this occurs, throughout the principles, additional resources are signposted so that more detailed
guidance on particular topics can be followed.
What’s new in this edition?
The first edition of Active Design was published in 2007 and updated in 2015. This 3rd edition takes
forward its past successes and updates it with the latest research and policy, as well as making it
even easier to apply. Active Design now makes it clear where design interventions that support
physical activity can also support other key objectives such as environmental sustainability, social
inclusion, reducing health inequalities, and economic growth.
The Policy Framework
Since the last edition of Active Design, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) has seen
considerable updates, with 2021 as the latest version. The role of sport, healthy lifestyles and
physical activity opportunities and the importance of these in supporting communities has been
strengthened, along with the role and importance of good design in the planning system. Local
authorities are now required to develop Design Codes, and the NPPF now sets out clearly that
‘Development that is not well-designed should be refused’.
Supporting planning policy has been produced, with the advent of the National Design Guide, setting
out the ten characteristics of a well-designed place. This is complemented by the National Model
Design Code, which gives more detailed guidance on urban design matters and shows how successful
design codes can be developed.
Both the National Design Guide and National Model Design Code are intended as baseline frameworks
for more detailed guidance in specific areas, whether that be a district or site, or by topic, e.g.
activity. Active Design fits into and complements this framework, and the diagram later in this
chapter demonstrates the overlaps with the ten characteristics of well-designed places set out in the
National Design Guide.
Updated Research and Engagement
The new edition of Active Design reflects the latest research and practice in encouraging activity in
the built environment. A literature review of recent publications and studies, policy and design
guidance has been undertaken to identify gaps, new topic areas and usability improvements.
Following this an extensive stakeholder engagement process was undertaken both online and in-
person, to understand how Active Design was being used, where it could be improved, and what
best practice could be shared. These valuable insights have shaped the new edition, and a full list
of stakeholders involved is contained in an Appendix.
Key changes identified through the research and engagement process were:
• The importance of linking physical activity to other areas of policy priority, such as
environmental sustainability and climate change, reducing inequalities and economic growth
• The need to simplify the principles to make them more ‘actionable’, and demonstrate their
use through examples and case studies
• New or emerging topics of relevance, such as micro-mobility, digital solutions, expanding

the network of childrens’ play opportunities, and new forms of working
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• Post-COVID changes to lifestyles and needs from the built environment
Supporting Complementary Priorities
The research review and consultation with stakeholders demonstrated that Active Design can
complement and assist in the delivery of a number of policy priority areas, fitting into a more joined-
up approach to designing the built environment. Throughout the updated guidance, highlighted
boxes indicate where Active Design’s principles can support the wider policy areas of:
• Environmental Sustainability
• Tackling Inequalities
• Economic Growth
The Ten Principles
Through the review and consultation with stakeholders, the existing Ten Principles were confirmed
to be still sound and valid. These have been retained, and they have been broken down into sub-
principles that make them easier to apply in practice. This is intended to support design teams
looking to implement Active Design, and planning teams looking to assess proposals for their success
in supporting activity
Some of the principles have been renamed to make them clearer and respond to identified changes
and new content. All of the principles have been updated with new guidance supported by the latest
research.
Where previously the principles were grouped by three themes (Awareness, Accessibility and
Amenity), they are now grouped by three clear principle groups that underpin what makes an Active
Environment - Supporting Active Travel, High-Quality Active Places and Spaces, and Delivery and
Activation. Each of these principle groups sets out how designing for activity can complement other
priority areas such as environmental sustainability (including climate change and biodiversity net
gain), reducing health inequalities and economic growth.
DIAGRAM MAPPING OLD > NEW PRINCIPLES + NDG OVERLAP
Active Design (2015) Active Design (2023) National Design Guide

Principle Principle Characteristic
Activity for All Activity for All
Supporting Active Travel
Walkable Communities Walkable Communities Built Form
Movement
Connected Walking and Connected Walking and Movement
Cycling Routes Cycling Routes
Co-location of community Mixing Uses and Co-Locating Built Form
facilities Facilities Uses
High-Quality Active Places
and Spaces
Network of Multi-Functional Network of Multi-Functional Public Spaces
Open Spaces Open Spaces Nature
High Quality Streets and High Quality Streets and Movement
Spaces Spaces Public Spaces
Nature
Appropriate Infrastructure Providing Activity Public Spaces
Infrastructure Homes & Buildings
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Active Buildings Active Buildings, Inside and Homes & Buildings

Out
Delivery and Activation
Management, maintenance, Maintaining High Quality Resources
monitoring & evaluation Flexible Spaces Lifespan
Activity promotion & local Activating Spaces Lifespan
champions
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The Ten Principles of Active Design
Double page Infographic showing the 10 Principles, their icons + their aims?
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FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLE 1 – Activity for All
The Aim
All environments should be accessible to all in our communities and should support physical activity
across all ages, ethnicities, gender, and abilities, and enable all people to be active and build long-
term active habits and lifestyles. This is essential for the delivery of all the principles of Active Design
and is the foundational principle of this guidance.
How to do it
A Universal Design approach should be followed, ensuring that all needs are considered early and
included to ensure the widest possible usage without unnecessary duplication. Providing
opportunities for all to be active should be considered at every stage of the design process, from
early engagement to planning, design, delivery and onward to activating spaces.
1.1 Create and manage facilities, streets and spaces to enable all to take part in activity
• Recognise and adopt the principles of universal design when making decisions about the
potentially conflicting needs of different groups, as not all activities may be complementary,
and careful consideration of the requirements for different groups using the same space is
required to avoid conflicts.
• An early design audit of user groups and experience of a wide variety of user journeys from
home to destination is a valuable tool that can guide proposals throughout their
development. This design audit should include different genders, ages, socio-economic
groups, races, physical, sensory and mental abilities, as well as considerations for
neurodiverse people. Where appropriate, this should be conducted by a qualified and trained
specialist auditor.
• Barriers to engaging in physical activity, especially travelling actively, can be diverse and
are often related to personal safety concerns or inconvenience when compared with
alternatives. This may include a lack of pedestrian crossings on busy roads or a step that
prevents wheelchair access, through perception of the safety of a path at night due to a lack
of natural surveillance or lighting of paths.
1.2 Meaningful consultation and engagement, as early and as often as possible
• Early and innovative engagement with people and communities that have traditionally been
left behind can provide important insight into the role a specific space or facility may take in
a community, and can provide pointers to how a space or facility may be activated.
• Use of effective consultation techniques, discussion, co-design and evidence gathering is

essential to ensure spaces and facilities can be designed and delivered, as well as managed
and maintained to enable activity for all.
• Consider as part of engagement how existing spaces or facilities could be better utilised,
understand local needs and opportunities, and how local people might wish to use facilities
and spaces moving forward.
• Effective consultation should continue throughout the design process, to test ideas and refine
concepts through to detailed design and delivery.
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1.3 Provide investment into activity interventions for those at most in need
• Specific measures should be taken to target the identified needs of particular groups or to
encourage greater participation. Interventions and investment in providing new facilities,
connections or programmes should be focussed on those who need it most, as this has the
greatest impact on reducing health inequalities.
• Targeted interventions might not always require specific facilities or designs but could mean
that as part of a proposal for development, consideration is given for the protection and
management of space or a facility aimed at reaching out to particular groups. This could be
linked to the activation of spaces (see Principle 10).
• Use Local Active Partnerships 3, Sport England’s Active Lives data, directors of Public Health
and Joint Strategic Needs Assessments to help you to understand the participation
inequalities in your area, with health impact assessments being useful to understand health
inequalities.
BOX Voice Opportunity Power (VOP)
VOP is a free resource which provides practical guidance on how to involve young people between
the ages of 11-18 in the way that places get built and managed. VOP is designed to support
professionals (developers, architects, urban designers, planners and sports providers) in engaging
with young people to improve participation in and the quality of new development and regeneration.
VOP has been successfully used in many contexts, including establishing a youth forum in Mayfair,
discussing proposals for regeneration in the Nottingham Trent Basin and child friendly
neighbourhoods in Aberfeldy 4.
https://voiceopportunitypower.com/
Useful Resources
Sport England provides guidance in the delivery of accessible sports facilities 5 including a useful
Audit Checklist which can be used to analyse barriers and ensure inclusive design outcomes.
Uniting the Movement 6 sets out Sport England’s 10 year vision and strategy, and sets out the
importance of facilitating Activity for All in tackling the inequalities in sport and physical activity.
Creating and protecting the spaces and places that make it easier for people to be active is one of
the five big issues identified.
The Local Government Association holds best practice guidance 7 on public engagement, evaluation
and monitoring, which can be useful in considering the best way to consult local people on their
views.
Sport England’s Local Delivery Pilots which seek to understand how local identities and structures
can be used to increase activity levels 8
The National Register of Access Consultants (NRAC) is an independent UK wide accreditation service
for individuals who provide access consultancy and access auditor services.
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THEME 1: Supporting Active Travel
If a place is designed to support and encourage walking, wheeling, cycling or travel by other active
means, more people are likely to do so. It is the simplest and most inclusive way of getting people
to incorporate activity into their daily lives, and has numerous benefits for health, the environment,
the places we live, quality of life and social inclusion.
Many places created in the 20th and 21st centuries have prioritised motor vehicles over people in
their design, and created environments that are unsafe, unwelcoming or difficult to walk, wheel or
cycle in. Conscious effort is required to reverse this, in new and existing places, and to reduce the
barriers preventing active travel.
This group of Active Design Principles focuses on the creation of places that are easy to get around
using active modes, and how to encourage people to do so. They aim to make active travel modes
the first choice, and the easiest choice.
The Principles
2 – Walkable Communities
3 – Providing Connected Walking and Cycling Routes
4 – Mixing uses and co-locating facilities
How does this increase activity?
People will naturally choose a method of travel that is convenient, quick and reliable. If this is the
case for active travel modes, more people are likely to use them, increasing physical activity. The
design of active travel routes are key to facilitating this change. If the active routes between origins
and destinations are safe, continuous, attractive to use and direct, they will encourage more people
to consider and use them.
Locating homes and places for daily essentials and recreation within easy reach of each other on
foot and bicycle (commonly known as “walkable neighbourhoods”, but not limited to walking) means
people are fundamentally more likely to make the journey as a pedestrian or other active travel
modes, rather than choose to get in the car.
Where there are multiple reasons to visit a destination, by locating facilities close to each other,
people are more likely to combine trips and walk and cycle to get there. Routes with more variety
and uses mixed along them also reduce the perception of distance, making it more likely that people
will walk or cycle along them.
What other benefits are there?
Environment and Climate Change
• Compact, attractive walkable places that encourage activity are more efficient with land use,
enabling more land to be retained and enhanced for nature and biodiversity.
• By replacing journeys that would otherwise be made by car, carbon emissions are reduced,
making one of the largest potential personal contributions towards tackling climate change.
Noise pollution and poor air quality in urban areas, primarily caused by vehicle traffic, can
be substantially reduced.
• Places that encourage walking, wheeling and cycling do not need as much infrastructure for
vehicles, allowing more space for permeable and natural surfaces that can allow surface
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water runoff to soak away before causing localised flooding. These spaces can also support
biodiversity gain in the public realm.
Tackling Inequalities
• Walking and cycling are free or inexpensive ways of getting about when compared to owning
and running a car, and are more accessible to all socio-economic groups.
• If a neighbourhood is designed to encourage active travel, it can help younger people to get
about independently, without needing lifts from parents, or other costly transport options.
• With appropriate inclusive design, people with all levels of mobility are more likely to be
active if the public realm is welcoming to them. Good design can reduce or remove the
barriers which might prevent people with reduced mobility being active.
• Road safety issues, noise and air pollution from vehicle movements can have an increased
impact on more deprived communities as they are more likely to be located on or adjacent
to major roads, exacerbating health and social inequalities. Reductions in traffic can have a
particular benefit to these neighbourhoods.
• Social interaction is more likely when walking, allowing people to feel more connected to
their local area and neighbours. On streets with less through traffic, studies have shown that
social links between neighbours are more likely 9.
Economic Growth
• Studies on schemes such as the Mini Holland 10 approach taken in Walthamstow show that
higher footfall and corresponding increases in retail spend occur in places where walking and
cycling have been encouraged. 11
• The highest-spending customers for local retailers are those that can walk or cycle to them,
and thus use them regularly. The importance of car parking and accessibility to vehicles is
often overestimated. Businesses, residents, developers and visitors all benefit from
investment in the public realm and walkability 12.
• Well-planned and marketed leisure trails, when combined with public realm improvements,
can encourage tourism and other leisure uses in places, with secondary economic benefits.
• Walkable neighbourhoods can have a wider variety of employment spaces within them, these
can be more suitable and accessible for small businesses and start-ups.
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Principle 2 – Walkable Communities
The Aim
Facilities for daily essentials and recreation should be within easy reach of each other on foot,
meaning people are more likely to make the journey as a pedestrian or by active means. Good
cycling connections should be provided to extend the range of services accessible while remaining
physically active.
How to do it
New neighbourhoods should be designed to be compact, with shops, schools, community facilities,
open space and sports facilities typically within 800m walking distance (approximately 10 minutes
for a typical adult) from homes along streets and active networks.
Existing neighbourhoods should be assessed for provision gaps, and opportunities to strengthen
their mix of facilities within walking distance of homes should be prioritised. Neighbourhoods should
have good onward connections to higher-order services and jobs through walking and cycling
networks, and public transport.
2.1 Locate facilities, jobs and homes in easy walking distance
• When planning new neighbourhoods, implement the 20-minute neighbourhood principle (or
similar), by locating day-to-day facilities such as schools, shops, community facilities, open
spaces and appropriate sports facilities within approximately 800m, or a 10-minute walking
radius of all homes for a typical adult (10 minutes out, 10 minutes back).
• Employment and commercial space should be included within neighbourhoods. Remote or

co-working ‘hubs’, small flexible commercial units and retail units located at local centres
can be integrated well into lots of contexts.
• Existing neighbourhoods with a lack of daily facilities should be identified and prioritised
through Local Plan policy for proposals that could fill the gaps.
2.2 Prioritise Active Travel modes over other forms of transport
• Adopt the principle of a Hierarchy of Travel, with pedestrians and cyclists designed for first,
followed by public transport and essential vehicles, with private vehicle movements at the
bottom of the hierarchy.
• Consider the user journey throughout the design process. When and why might people
choose not to make a journey by active means, and what can your design do to help them?
For example, parents of primary school children may need to continue their journey to work
after drop-off, so co-location of schools with onward public transport opportunities could
encourage active travel (See Principle 4).
• At junctions, crossings and other points where active travel interacts with vehicle traffic,
active travel routes should be direct, clear, safe and prioritised. This is supported by the new
hierarchy of users in the Highway Code.
Include Diagram / infographic of prioritisation hierarchy here
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2.3 Use filtered permeability to make it easier to walk and cycle than drive
• The principle of filtered permeability is that walking and cycling networks should form a
continuous and connected grid in a development, whereas private vehicle movement should
be less direct and longer, with breaks, either real or perceived, created by design
interventions such as street planting, bollards, materials changes or similar. Pedestrian
connections should have good natural surveillance from buildings for safety.
• The same principle can be used to support direct public transport routes through
neighbourhoods, which support active travel networks by providing onward connections. Bus
connections through neighbourhoods should be direct and uninterrupted, with the use of bus
gates at key locations to provide an advantage over private vehicle traffic.
• Existing neighbourhoods should explore options to introduce Liveable Neighbourhoods 13 or

Mini-Holland style interventions to improve the experience of walking and cycling, and
reduce through traffic.
• Modern mobile app navigation has increased the use of side streets as cut-throughs for
motor vehicles 14. Filtered permeability removes these options and puts traffic back onto
main streets, which are designed to be able to accommodate through vehicle movement.
This makes smaller streets more attractive for walking and cycling.
Include Diagram / infographic filtered permeability here
2.4 Utilise residential and employment travel planning
• Travel Plans can be useful tools to help people make active choices in their daily travel.
These should audit existing travel patterns and travel culture, map options available, and
set out an action plan of measures that will result in a modal shift to more active or
sustainable means.
• Travel Plans should incorporate an ambitious but achievable set of mode share targets prior
to a robust monitoring and evaluation process, which sets out what further measures and
investment are required from the applicant/occupier in the event that those targets are not
met.
• New residential developments should develop a Travel Plan, agreed with the local planning
authority, to provide information and support for new residents to help them find local
routes, walk or cycle to or from key facilities and destinations from their move-in date. Many
developments subsidise bus services during the early phases until there is enough patronage
to support a commercial service, and may provide free or subsidised bus passes to new
residents. Details of active travel options should be provided in welcome packs and digital
technology (such as Apps) provided for new residents.
• As part of Travel Plan measures, employers can help their employees have a more
sustainable range of choices to get to work. This can include enrolling in a Cycle to Work
scheme, support for public transport tickets, creating a Car Share scheme, and publicising
active and sustainable travel choices in the workplace.
• Active travel options can also be publicised through community events such as local group
walks or cycling events..(see Principle 10)
Useful Resources
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LTN1/20
Inclusive Mobility
Manual for Streets
CIHT Public Transport in New Developments
Forthcoming: ATE’s Approach to New Developments
Forthcoming: ATE Development Assessment Toolkit
Living Streets publishes comprehensive guidance on implementing Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (an
approach to creating filtered permeability in residential neighbourhoods).
Lifetime Neighbourhoods, published the former MHCLG, is a piece of research on how future
neighbourhoods can accommodate the changing and ageing needs of the population.
Cycle to work scheme implementation guidance for employers - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
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Principle 3 – Providing Connected Walking & Cycling Routes
The Aim
Encourage active travel by creating a continuous network of walking, wheeling and cycling routes
connecting places safely and directly. Networks should be easy to use, supported by signage and
landmarks to help people find their way.
How to do it
A comprehensive network of safe, high quality and easy to find walking, wheeling and cycling routes
should connect destinations and provide feeder routes to all homes throughout neighbourhoods. A
choice of routes, quiet and busy, leisure or utility focused, should provide for all potential uses and
users, limiting conflicts between modes, and with signage that make it easy to find where to go.
Existing networks, including Rights of Way should be mapped and opportunities identified and
connected with high quality provision, with walking and cycling are prioritised. Providing connections
and interchange to public transport enhances the utilisation and effectiveness of such networks.
3.1 Create a direct network of routes which connect to places, along routes people want
to use
• Proposals for new places should create networks of walking and cycling routes within the
site, clearly connecting to nearby places and routes. These routes should be effectively
mapped allowing new users to know where they are located.
• Networks become stronger and increasingly more useful as they expand. proposals should
add connections that can only benefit the site, and also the wider population , e.g. by
responding to Local Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plans.
• ‘Pinch points’, where there may be insufficient space to accommodate all modes should be
identified and design proposals should address them positively and clearly, prioritising
walking and cycling over vehicle traffic, considering the opportunity to implement modal
filters, where vehicles cannot proceed but pedestrians, cyclists and potentially buses are
allowed to.
• ‘Desire lines’, which are the most direct connections between where people want to go,
should inform the design of public spaces, and help define spaces where people will move
through (transit space) and where people can stay and linger (staying space).
3.2 Provide high quality, safe, routes with a clear role and purpose
• Routes should be well-lit and have natural surveillance to provide a safe environment. Active
building frontages consisting of doors and windows can provide the necessary natural
surveillance, activity and visual interest.
• If routes run through dark or quieter open spaces and there is no opportunity to add lighting,
natural surveillance or other improvements, alternative routes should be provided to ensure
the network can still be used by all at night or in the winter months.
• A hierarchy approach should inform the design of streets and routes, considering their role
in the wider network. The built infrastructure for walking and cycling should respond to the
anticipated use levels on those routes, with the consideration that better provision will raise
usage levels.
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• Less confident cyclists may find routes away from main streets, for example through parks
or segregated on quieter streets, more attractive and usable. These environments, which
include open space and play streets, are also useful for learning to cycle and becoming more
confident.
• More confident cyclists are likely to want direct routes, segregated on main streets, and
connecting to quieter streets.
• Routes to schools should ensure they are usable by children and parents through reductions
in vehicle traffic, use of dropped kerbs and continuous footways, verges to separate
carriageways from footways, and clearly defined, physically segregated cycling routes.
Streets or open space networks that link to primary schools offer the opportunity to include
informal play equipment en-route.
• Routes for leisure purposes should not be forgotten. Walking, nature, art and heritage trails
can bring places to life, and give everyone a reason to go out for a walk. When coupled with
information boards or artwork en-route they can be very popular. Opportunities to connect
to and enhance walking and cycling routes in the surrounding countryside should be
considered.
• Dog walking or running routes should be integrated within open space networks, to allow a
loop or choice of loops to be taken.
• Routes for recreational horse riding, including off-road links and bridleways, should be
included or enhanced.
3.3 Enable interchange between active modes and onward sustainable travel
• Walking, wheeling and cycling networks should enable easy onward interchange with public
transport. This extends the effective range of active networks by allowing people to continue
on longer onward journeys. Nearly every public transport trip starts and ends by active
means.
• Bus stops and mobility hubs should provide ample, visible cycle parking, overlooked, covered
and adjacent to the stop. All stops should provide shelter and seating, and aim to provide
real-time timetable information and lighting.
• Major stops or interchanges should aim to provide cycle hubs, with secure parking and basic
maintenance facilities.
• Pedestrian crossings should be clear and integrated in the interchange design.
Include Diagram / infographic of mobility hub components here
3.4 Include wayfinding signage aimed at active modes and consider digital approaches
• Much of the directional signage on streets is aimed at vehicle traffic. Active travel users
should be considered and provided for equally, with signage appropriate to the routes they
would choose, sized appropriately and tailored for all users, including children and disabled
people.
• Wayfinding signage should be sensitively sited to not contribute towards street clutter and
be concentrated at key nodes in networks, to help unfamiliar users navigate to key
destinations easily.
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• Signage can be supported by stencil-painted numbers, colours or lines on routes that match
signage. Although the use of mobile location apps has increased, there is still a need for
effective signage and wayfinding to ensure inclusive activity throughout the public realm 15
• Indicating distance as well as direction on signage, in time taken, distance measurement

and even alternatives such as calorie burn can be a useful way of improving confidence and
navigation in walking and cycling routes
• Digital wayfinding, such as route-finding mobile apps, can be tailored for different audiences
and needs. For example, neurodiverse users may want certainty about what they will
experience en-route and at their destination, whilst those with limited mobility may want a
route that maximises accessible public realm and streets.
• Detailed guidance on signage is contained within LTN 1/20 chapter 13.
3.5 Look beyond the boundary of a site to connect to the wider area
• Identifying active travel connections to likely popular destinations and surrounding networks
should be the first stage of any design and should inform the layout of proposals to make
walking and cycling distances, and gradients, as small as possible. This should also take into
account adjacent sites which are either allocated within local planning policy or anticipated
to come forward for development.
• Providing active travel connections through existing adjoining residential areas is important
to access destinations beyond a development and to assist with integration with existing
communities.
BOX Wayfinding for Healthy Lives, Oxfordshire
The Kidlington wayfinding project was conceived to improve the health outcomes of primary school
aged children in the Oxfordshire conurbations of Kidlington and Gosford. A key focus of the project
was engagement and interaction with the community and various groups throughout the co-design
process, involving community and disability user groups, the parish councils, schools, local
authorities at all levels and the police.
The outcome of the design process saw the installation of five zoo themed activity trails inspired by
the zoo located in the village in the 1930s. The trails range from 1.5km to 5km in length taking in
almost every part of the community, passing each school, visiting the majority of green spaces
available, joining the canal and linking community amenities and shops. The circular routes can be
joined at any point. Periodic footprints, always in line of sight, make route following simple whilst
minimising visual intrusiveness. Fingerpost, lamp post and bollard signs are used to bolster easy
wayfinding.
The project was evaluated in two ways: an assessment of their social value by surveying key
demographics users (young families) before and after installation and infrared pedestrian counters
located on the trails prior to and post installation. The summary of these studies shows an increase
of 0.275 in life satisfaction from trail users, using the WELLBY scale this corresponds to a monetary
value of £3,575 per monthly trail user per year. Using the extrapolated trail user data this yields a
social return on investment of £18.23 for every £1 invested.
Useful Resources
The Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) hold a library of resources related
to Active Travel and Public Transport including best practice, monitoring and design examples. 16
The Department of Transport publishes Inclusive Mobility, a guide to best practice on improving
access to public transport and creating a barrier-free pedestrian environment.
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For technical guidance on appropriate standards for cycling infrastructure, refer to Local Transport
Note 1/20 ‘Cycle Infrastructure Design’ (LTN 1/20), published by the Department for Transport.
Manual for Streets published by the Department for Transport explains how to design, construct,
adopt and maintain new and existing residential streets.
Ramblers – A case for Action
ATE Guidance
Active Travel England: ATE’s Approach to Assessing Planning Applications
Active Travel England: Planning Assessment Toolkit and User Manual
Active Travel England: Best Practice Guidance
Local cycling and walking infrastructure plans technical guidance (publishing.service.gov.uk)
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Principle 4 – Mixing uses and co-locating facilities
The Aim
Destinations with multiple reasons to visit mean people are more likely to combine trips and walk,
wheel or cycle to get there. Places with more variety, higher densities and a mix of uses also reduce
the perception of distance walked, when travelling through spaces and generate the critical mass of
travel demand to better support public transport services.
How to do it
Place schools, shops, community facilities, sports facilities, principal public open spaces and suitable
employment close together at key locations within active and public transport networks. A residential
population living amongst these uses will increase catchment and boost viability, and is much more
likely to walk or cycle to use them. Successful design should identify and mitigate potential conflicts
between uses.
4.1 Avoid uniform zoning of large areas to single uses
• Single use ‘zones’ of land dedicated to only one function increase the distance between
homes, work, leisure and other facilities, meaning that trips are more likely to be made in
the car.
• Ensure land uses are successfully mixed, considering the mobility networks and accessibility
of locations. Places with more walking, cycling and public transport connections should have
more facilities, uses and higher densities to make them as accessible as possible to the most
people.
• Ensure that conflicts between land uses (e.g. noise, overlooking or smells) are successfully
mitigated or prevented through successful design and layout.
• High density residential schemes can generate a large amount of walking/cycling movements
within a small area and therefore opportunities for co-locating other uses should be explored
e.g. the use of ground floors of flats for retail or leisure uses.
4.2 Create mixed use, connected focal points in prominent places within a community
• Location where lots of routes meet are highly accessible and should be the focus of where
facilities should be located.(link to Principle 3)
• Within existing neighbourhoods and places, map out the locations with the highest
accessibility by walking, cycling and public transport to understand places which should have
an intensification of mixed land uses.
• Consider the time dimension in co-locating uses to bring day-long activity to streets and
spaces. Facilities such as schools have particular hours where they are busy, and they can
be co-located with complementary facilities that have different characteristic hours to ensure
activity in the public realm throughout the day.
• Consider the form of traditional mixed-use streets such as High Streets as a way of designing
places. These can maximise accessibility to surrounding neighbourhoods and encourage
movement along them between uses.
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4.3 Co-locate sport and recreation facilities alongside complementary uses
• Playing fields including sports pitches and other sports facilities e.g. bowls, tennis, cycle
tracks can be integrated amongst green infrastructure and open space networks at key
locations to maximise accessibility.
• Visibility of sports and recreation facilities near commonly-visited destinations can raise their
profile and ensure more people in the community are aware of them, and can access them.
• Facilities that are required to supports sports facilities such as changing rooms and toilets
should be designed where appropriate to be multi-functional so that they can support other
physical activities on open spaces. For example, pavilions can be designed to include café,
social and toilet facilities to support use throughout the week which can improve their
sustainability.
• Through good design, any potential conflicts between, for example lighting requirements
and other servicing needs and natural habitats, nearby residents or other uses of open space
can be avoided or appropriately mitigated.
• More frequent but smaller sports facilities, that integrate amongst streets, homes and other
uses, may be a better way of providing access in some contexts, rather than larger combined
facilities, which may only be accessible by car for many people and more expensive to
provide and deliver. These may be more informal and focussed on specific activity or health
needs in an area (see Principle 1).
4.4 Use the public realm to create informal activity at sports/recreation facilities
• Sports and leisure facilities, due to their size and need for enclosure and security can act as
barriers to active travel and appear unwelcoming. Designs should make the public realm,
connections and greenspace a part of the facility, enabling their use for informal activity
such as outdoor gyms, nature or trim trails, or programmable, flexible spaces for events
linked to the sports facility.
• The co-location of sports facilities with community facilities can help when combining use of
the public realm outside a building as it encourages a range of activities at a location,
allowing users to experience spaces differently. This may also help their running costs and
third party income.
• The periphery of playing fields provides opportunities to encourage informal physical

activities where this can be done without compromising the requirements of the sports users.
For example, nature trails and walking/running routes can be sensitively designed around
the periphery of sports pitches.
• Parks and open spaces can be great places to locate the front entrances of sports facilities,
creating a focal point in the space and allowing events such as parkrun, or other group
recreational or instructional activities such as cycle training to co-locate with the formal
sports facility, where space permits.
Useful Resources
The Town and Country Planning Association’s 20-Minute Neighbourhood Guidance reviews in detail
the importance of creating complete compact neighbourhoods 17. A pilot programme of the 20-minute
neighbourhood concept was undertaken in Melbourne, with detailed reporting on its outcomes 18
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THEME 2: Active, High Quality Places and Spaces
All places and spaces should encourage activity, not just buildings and facilities for sport, activity
and leisure, but open spaces, green infrastructure, urban public realm and streets, and the range of
places we use in our daily lives.
These places and spaces should also be of high design quality and be designed for longevity, with
quality materials and flexibility in their use designed in to keep the place active into the future.
This group of Active Design Principles focuses on the creation of these Active, High Quality Places
and spaces, ensuring opportunities to be active are harnessed wherever possible.
The Principles
5 – Network of Multifunctional Open Space
6 – High Quality Streets and Spaces
7 – Providing Activity Infrastructure
8 - Active Buildings, Inside and Out
• High quality, flexible spaces allow opportunities for many different groups to be active, and
also enables spaces to be able to respond to the changing needs and demands of
communities.
• Open space networks can provide a safe and attractive opportunity for active travel between
destinations, as well as important spaces to be active. (Link to Principle 3). A connected
network of open spaces can encourage individuals to go further and longer, increasing their
activity levels. This needs to be combined with good waymarking, signage and knowledge
of the connectivity of the networks.
• Providing multifunctional spaces allows for sport and physical activity to be delivered
alongside other priorities, such as biodiversity, community space, sustainability or other
needs, enabling the function of space to be maximised.
• The provision of multifunctional greenspace and green infrastructure often provides

opportunity for carbon capture, air quality improvement, biodiversity net gain, amongst a
raft of other environmental sustainability benefits. This helps to meet the targets of the
Government’s 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment 19 (See Principle 5)
• There is a clear correlation between a higher quality, pleasant environment and increased
rates of walking and cycling 20. This increased walking and cycling has a significant positive
impact on environmental quality and carbon emissions, by diverting movements from
emissions-causing transport modes (See Principle 6)
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• Free-to-use open spaces integrated throughout an urban area provide a common place for
all to use equally. This is essential in creating inclusive environments and tackling health
inequalities by creating a common and free space for all, where activities and events can be
undertaken, and outdoor physical activity taken at no cost. See Principle 1
• Access to nature and amenity space when well distributed geographically, and taking into
account population densities, enables easy access and good availability, facilitating
associated physical activity and health benefits for all 21 22.
• Access to greenspace has been shown to result in people experiencing healthier cortisol
levels (which controls mood) than those living in areas with limited green space provision 23
Economic Growth
• Providing easy access to greenspace is critical. £2.1 billion per year could be saved in health
costs if everyone in England had good access to greenspace, due to increased physical
activity in those spaces 24
• High Street walking and cycling and public realm improvements can increase retail sales on
those streets by 30%, and those who walk to a high street spend 40% more than those who
drive. Retail vacancy rates on improved streets can be up to 17% lower. 25
• Providing opportunities to reduce sedentary working within workplaces can increase

employee health, and thus has associated economic benefits. Employees who are physically
active take 27% fewer sick days than their colleagues. 26
• Reduced congestion and increased physical activity encourages greater investment and
regeneration and in a way that is beneficial for future generations, as referenced and
encouraged in the Transport Decarbonisation Plan. 27
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Principle 5 – Network of Multi-Functional Open Spaces
The Aim
Accessible open space should be promoted across cities, towns and villages to provide opportunities
for sport and physical activity, as well as active travel connections and natural or civic space for
people to congregate and enjoy.
How to do it
A network of multifunctional open space should be created across all communities to support a range
of activities including sport, recreation and play, woodland, wildlife habitat and productive
landscapes (allotments, orchards).
Facilities for sport, recreation and play should be of an appropriate scale and positioned in prominent
locations, to increase awareness and visibility of activity as well as appropriately sited and designed
to respect residential amenity
5.1 Create a variety of open spaces
• Open space is not just grass and sports pitches (green space), it also includes civic space
with hard landscaping (grey space), informal/amenity, natural/semi-natural places where
nature dominates, allotments, formal gardens and incidental ‘pocket’ parks. Often these uses
will be suitable in a range of contexts and could be more complementary in certain locations
than other comparable uses. This creates variety in an area, with multiple activity
opportunities.
• Small and large spaces are needed for different activities, functions and uses. Networks
should contains spaces of different scales and character.
• Open spaces should be multi-functional, with the potential to incorporate sustainable

drainage systems (SuDS) such as swales, wetlands and open basins, active travel networks,
leisure cycling networks, natural habitats and other facilities as well as amenity space,sports
pitches, BMX tracks and other sports infrastructure.
5.2 Link open spaces together within and beyond a site
• Find opportunities to connect to wider networks of open spaces, looking beyond the site
boundary. These open spaces should be integrated with and alongside nearby active travel
networks either to provide direct routes or leisure routes. These connections should respond
to local green or blue infrastructure action plans or strategies, where available, or other
strategic priorities in an area. (Link to Principle 3)
• Utilise clear and distinctive wayfinding in open spaces, together with promotion and local
knowledge of the networks which is a vital part of helping people find their way around and
use them effectively.
• Use nearby ‘blue’ infrastructure for water recreation activities such as rivers, canals and
lakes as part of the network.
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5.3 Plan and design for a wide range of activities and users
• Formal and informal sport can be integrated throughout the public realm, utilising activity
opportunities such as skate parks, off-road bike tracks, Multi-Use Games Areas (MUGAs),
table tennis tables, marked running routes, parkour and outdoor gyms.
• Formal sports pitches should be integrated within the networks of open space to provide
variety, vitality and focal points.
• Other diverse sources of activity for different groups include food production (e.g.
community gardens and allotments),walking trails, dog walking, horse riding, organised
outdoor classes and even augmented reality gaming.
• Ancillary infrastructure and activities e.g. cafes, resting places and WCs can support active
use of spaces by creating a diversity of use within spaces, and attracting people to use
spaces and facilities.
5.4 Integrate a diversity of natural habitats to make environments where people want be
outdoors and active
• Contact with nature and natural environments is shown to enhance mental health 28. It
improves the experience of being outdoors and active and can also provide benefits for
nature. A variety of habitats should be incorporated, not a single consistent environment.
• Nature benefits when habitats are linked together continuously as wildlife corridors, so
opportunities for networks and connections to wider habitats should be taken.
• Natural habitats can be integrated imaginatively in many places. For example, sports pitches
often extend the grassed surface to cover spectator areas, but these can include more
natural habitats such natural banks as viewing platforms, which when not is use can be left
for wildflowers, and the provision of trees for shading of spectators and ecological benefit.
• Consider the accessibility of space when creating habitats, as some areas for nature without
humans using the space can be beneficial in ecological terms. This space may be able to
contribute to a wider, pleasant environment without direct access.
• Seasonal variations should be embraced, providing native variety and creating a changing
experience for users of the space.
5.5 Make space for children’s play
• Children need space to be active in public realm and open space and their presence often
activates spaces and creates destinations for families.
• Formal play spaces should be accessible within walking distances of homes, and ideally
integrated as part of destinations and local centres. Create a strategy (or contribute to an
existing strategy) for a variety of children’s play spaces, creating both formal and informal
play spaces.
• Play spaces should be designed to be accessible for all children, including disabled children,
in terms of equipment and avoiding unnecessary fencing.
• Informal play spaces such as trim trails can be inventive and low-cost: smaller children will
climb and explore most things given the opportunity.
• Older children should also be considered. Teenagers often want space which they consider
to be their own, in the eyesight of adults but not necessarily overheard. These spaces need
to be located to avoid conflicts with other users of open spaces whilst still ensuring safety
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and overlooking. Co-design of spaces can play an important part in the design of effective
multi-age areas.
• The Play Streets initiative creates safe places for children to play where they don’t have
access to green space by closing streets for an afternoon.
BOX Sewerby Park & Sports Village, North Yorkshire
Sowerby Park is a 7.5 hectare green space at the centre of a growing community in North Yorkshire.
The project, built over a former landfill site, includes a 1km fitness trail, a sustainable drainage
system, space for three high quality sports pitches, bike trails, a BMX park, a new school, and
allotments. The project will deliver significant ecological improvements including the retention of
existing hedgerows, 300 new trees, and large swathes of wildflower meadow.
The emphasis was on creating a park that became a common place for the community, supported
health and well-being whilst establishing a matrix of new and improved ecological habitats.
The design process involved significant consultation with local clubs, to ensure the facility met their
needs, and local residents to ensure features such as pitch lighting were sensitively integrated.
Useful Resources
Play England publish guidance on Design for Play, a guide to creating successful play spaces.
Playing Out
Guidance on land use provision of open space, formal playspace and other typologies of space is
published by Fields in Trust, Guidance for Outdoor Sport and Play.
Natural England will publish a Green Infrastructure Standards/Design Guide which sets out the
principles for successful green infrastructure in open space and other environments.
The London Borough of Hackney adopted a ‘Child Friendly Spaces’ Supplementary Planning
Document which establishes child friendly design principles, ensuring child-friendly design can be
embedded beyond play space provision 29
Planning and design | Our specialist teams | Canal & River Trust (canalrivertrust.org.uk)
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Principle 6 - High Quality Streets and Spaces
The Aim
Streets and outdoor public spaces should be places in their own right. They should be attractive,
functional, prioritise people and able to host a mix of uses along them, with durable, quality
materials, street furniture in the right places and easy-to-use signage. High quality streets and
spaces encourage activity, whereas poor quality streets and spaces are much less likely to be used
to the same degree.
How to do it
Streets and public spaces of all types should be designed to be attractive places to be, appropriate
to the context, using durable materials to reduce maintenance costs and improve longevity. Streets
are places and not simply movement corridors, and their role in a network and the surrounding place
should be clearly defined. Placemaking should be supported through the creation of informal spaces
and flexible uses along streets, including children’s play, resting places and meeting spots. Street
furniture and signage can also contribute to the variety and quality of the street scene, when used
in a considerate way.
6.1 Design streets as places, not movement corridors
• Streets are about more than just vehicular through-routes or highways dominated by
vehicular traffic. The role of streets as ‘places’ should be prioritised above their role as
movement corridors, with consideration given to the attractiveness of a street and how this
may affect its use.
• Ground-floor uses animate a street and make it a place. How they connect to the public
realm should be considered. At a minimum, front doors should face the street and be clearly
visible.
• Separation of walking and cycling activity from vehicular use, for example through the use
of planting, can be an effective way to improve the quality of a street, especially where the
anticipated volume of traffic is such that pedestrians and cyclists may otherwise feel
vulnerable.
• Footways and any segregated cycleways should be uninterrupted and direct, with utility
cabinets, car charging points, bins and other street furniture off to the side. Space should
be set aside in a street so that such essential items can be accommodated in the future
without blocking active travel infrastructure.
• Residential and minor streets are an important part of an active travel network as they are
less trafficked by vehicles. Surfacing and carriageway widths should make clear to drivers
that these streets are for people, and vehicles should proceed with caution.
• How the parked car is accommodated within the built environment should be carefully
considered. For example, on-street parking should be effectively accommodated without
impacting on cycle lanes.
6.2 Design streets and spaces of high quality, utilising appropriate and durable materials
• All streets and spaces should be fit for purpose to encourage movement by walking and
cycling, and utilise high quality and durable materials which can provide grip in all weathers.
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• Surface materials should be used to define space clearly, for example by clearly delineating
cycling, walking and vehicle space. Changes in carriageway materials from tarmac to paving,
and changes in levels through use of raised tables and continuous footways accompanied by
set-back give way markings can help slow vehicles at junctions by making it clear that this
part of the street is prioritised for people. (see Principle 2)
• The choice of materials and design of key spaces should make reference and take inspiration
from the surrounding landscape and historic context to make a place feel distinctive and
rooted in its local environment. This creates opportunities to draw users in and encourages
associated activity within these areas.
• Maintenance should be considered in design, and active travel infrastructure should not be
an afterthought in terms of clearance of snow, fallen leaves or overgrown planting.
6.3 Create flexible spaces which can support multiple forms of activity
• Public spaces should be designed to be multifunctional, allowing for numerous activities and
events to be able to take place within a single space, and enabling flexibility for evolving
trends, technologies and activities. This should be supported by activity infrastructure (see
Principle 7).
• Within public spaces such as parks and civic spaces, subdividing the space into a variety of
different environments can provide an opportunity for people to meet, talk, exercise, transit
through and take part in activities.
6.4 Support informal and flexible use of spaces and streets
• Outdoor public spaces should be designed to ensure that they can operate flexibly, to
respond to changing activity trends or needs within a community. Flexible spaces also offer
more opportunity for effective activation and activity promotion (see Principle 10).
• Informal uses of streets (such as children playing in the streets) should also be supported
and promoted where appropriate. This informal play has been encouraged in multiple
initiatives across the country, such as Playing Out and Street Play 30.
• The flexible use of streets should be tested through temporary installations that encourage
activity and getting people out into the public realm (See Principle 7). These could include
the addition of new seating, play spaces, cycle parking, cycle lanes or even temporary retail
uses such as café space. ‘Parklets’, green spaces located in parking spaces, can bring life
and nature to streets. Such flexibility can enable opportunities to engage with communities
to consider what is sought within localities 31
• Spaces and streets should include seating at appropriate locations. Seating is often best
located at edges in public spaces, and can be delivered through standalone benches, steps,
or integrated into landscaping proposals and raised planting beds.
6.5 Create resilient spaces that can be active in all seasons
• Streets and spaces should designed for use in all seasons, with particular consideration given
to the hotter summer months and the colder, darker, winter months.
• The use of tree planting, sustainable drainage systems and rain gardens improves the street
scene and plays a role in extending the outdoor season through improving drainage, offering
cover and regulating air temperature.
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• Street trees can play a large role in offering shade and natural cooling throughout summer
for walkers and cyclists across towns and cities, reducing ambient temperatures. They should
be located appropriately so as not to block future active travel infrastructure.
BOX Broad Meadow, Oxford
Broad Street in Oxford is a wide, centrally located street that connects the shopping heart of the city
centre to the historic university area. In the past it was underused, with some car parking, and
mainly used as a transit space. In the summer of 2021, to aid the economic recovery of the city
after the pandemic, Oxford City Council set up a temporary ‘meadow’ in the space, using planters
made from Covid-19 vaccine shipping cases (developed in Oxford) to create a wildflower meadow
environment, integrating seating, a performance area and space for street food.
The experiment was a huge success, creating a destination and lots of outdoor activity in a previously
unused space and bringing a more natural environment into the city centre. Based on this Oxford
City Council, together with Oxfordshire County Council, have now taken the decision to make it a
permanent space, creating a long-term asset and flexible space for a variety of events and activities.
https://www.oxford.gov.uk/info/20359/building_projects/1530/broad_meadow
Useful Resources
Manual for Streets and Manual for Streets 2 32 provide comprehensive guidance on successful street
design. They will soon be joined by the comprehensive Manual for Streets 3, which will update and
bring them together.
The Global Designing Cities Initiative publishes a number of handbooks for successful street design,
using international case studies, including Designing Streets for Kids and the comprehensive Global
Street Design Guide.
Originally developed by Transport for London, and now endorsed by the Department for Transport,
the Healthy Streets toolkit sets out measurable criteria for healthy streets as places in urban areas,
with a selection of tools and approaches to make change happen 33.
Historic England have produced guidance called Streets for All: Advice for Highway and Public Realm
Works in Historic Places which provides detailed advice on what you can do to help make our streets
more attractive, distinctive and user-friendly for everyone.
https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/streets-for-all/heag149-sfa-national/
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Principle 7 - Providing Activity Infrastructure
The Aim
Infrastructure to enable sport, recreation and physical activity to take place should be provided
across all contexts including workplaces, sports facilities and public space, to facilitate activity for
all.
How to do it
Infrastructure to support activity should be provided and easily accessible. There are a range of
opportunities to achieve this, for example providing water fountains and/or refilling stations, public
toilets and clear wayfinding networks. Offices and workspaces should provide changing facilities and
cycle parking to encourage employees to commute via active modes of transport. Sports and
community facilities should look beyond their primary function , and look to encourage wider activity,
including the provision of infrastructure which non-facility users can access, such as toilets,
refreshments, social spaces and water refilling stations. Where appropriate they should act as
destinations for people, and where possible be outwardly facing.
7.1 Provide infrastructure which supports and enables active travel
• A broad range of infrastructure is required to encourage activity for the full range of potential
users, not just those who are most likely to be active. The provision and maintenance of
simple infrastructure such as public toilets, secure cycle parking, seating, signage, and
drinking fountains can increase the number and variety users within a locality. 34
• Access to toilets is an important consideration that may influence whether some users (e.g.
the elderly and those with long-term health conditions) participate in activity and how long
they will participate. Places and spaces that attract a lot of users should therefore be
supported by access to toilets.
• Safe and secure cycleparking should be provided at all locations, with consideration given
for adapted cycles and trikes. It needs to be central to design considerations and carefully
planned into the development layout from the outset in a way that makes it attractive and
convenient to the user
• Appropriate cycling, buggy and children’s scooter parking should also be provided at schools,
community facilities and play spaces in a prominent location, as well as additional provision
for parents and carers who may accompany their children by cycling.
7.2 Provide infrastructure which supports leisure and recreation physical activity
• Frequent opportunities for people to stop and sit should be provided across public spaces,
streets and walking routes. Accessible, well-placed seating encourages people to remain
within an area, whilst supporting elderly, and disabled users to undertake active journeys.
• Cafes, street tables, good outdoor space and other local services can be used to support and
enable activity, by encouraging a wider range of users, and people to stop and linger. This
increases the vitality and attractiveness of a space.
• Bridleways and connected off-road routes, linked to quiet lanes can provide safe and
attractive routes for horse riding. The use of Pegasus crossings at important intersections
can improve safety and complete links.
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• Dog parks, spending areas & waste bins: dog waste bins, drinking water for dogs and, where
required, dedicated space for dogs to be let off the lead should be provided to prevent conflict
with other open space users. Spending areas should also be provided for assistance dogs.
• High quality, well-placed and well-maintained outdoor gym equipment and informal sporting
equipment, such as goalposts, a basketball hoop or BMX pump-tracks can play multiple roles
in generating activity, whether utilised as part of individuals fitness routine or as part of a
more formal group exercise (eg. fitness camps).
• Include appropriately designed and sited storage facilities and electrical power points for
equipment that might be used for public events such as park runs, marathons, street parties,
markets, festivals, etc.
7.3 Integrate and utilise innovative digital technology in spaces and places
• Consider how micro-mobility systems such as e-scooters and e-bikes may be

accommodated, aiming to avoid conflict with other uses both whilst in use, and when parked.
Clear delineation in the public realm where certain modes should be parking, can be a good
way to alleviate conflicts.
• Wayfinding apps, or those which seek to encourage activity though augmented reality or
gaming, can be effective in getting those who are less active to become active 35.
• Providing opportunities for free Wi-Fi internet connection can encourage people to utilise a
space and provides the infrastructure to enable other digital interventions.
BOX Love Exploring App, Milton Keynes
The Love Exploring mobile app uses ‘augmented reality’ graphics that display on smartphones as
you walk around. Thousands of individuals, families and children have taken to local parks and
streets to use the App, exploring the game and trails since its launch in October 2021. Games change
regularly, and include Dinosaur Safari, Space Walk, Tree Fairies, Mega Mini-Beasts, Butterflies and
Moths and Spooky Halloween trails.
The app creates an opportunity for families to go for local walks, exploring their local area and the
extensive parks network. As well as family trails, other features allow people to explore local heritage
and places of interest, learning more about their area and encouraging regular activity.
https://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/health-and-wellbeing-hub/love-exploring
Useful Resources
The British Standards Institute publishes PAS 6463:2022: Design for the mind – Neurodiversity and
the built environment.
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Principle 8 – Active Buildings, Inside and Out
The Aim
Buildings we occupy shape our everyday lives, both when users are inside them and when outside.
Buildings should be designed with activity at the forefront, considering the arrival experience,
internal circulation, opportunities to get up and move about, and making the building an active
destination.
How to do it
Consider the user journey of arriving at a building by active means – it should be easy to find the
way in, park the bike and store belongings. Once inside, spaces should enable regular activity and
active circulation, and should be connected to the outdoors through the use of space and landscape.
Valued older buildings can be brought back to life through creative reuse, increasing vitality,
community connections to a local place and make activity a visible and distinctive part of a place.
Activity can also be a method to re-utilise or regenerate places, taking advantage of the economic
and social benefits it creates.
8.1 Orientate and design buildings to encourage activity
• Buildings should visually and physically interact with streets and spaces. Pedestrian
entrances should be prominent, clear and face the street. It should be easy and obvious for
a pedestrian to find the entrances and exits of buildings.
• Cycle parking should be adjacent to the front door, or as close as possible. It should be
visible and secure, not tucked away, and easier to access than car parking.
• Other storage for wheeled mobility options such as mobility scooters, wheelchairs or similar
should be provided close to the front door and easily accessible.
• Level access into buildings for those with limited mobility should be through the main
entrance. It should not be tucked away and difficult to find.
• Where it is necessary to provide car parking either for disabled users, operational reasons
or other essential requirements, car parking should not dominate the front of a building. It
should be located to the rear, side or underneath of a building, with appropriate overlooking
for safety.
• Clear and safe footways from the car park should direct users to the main pedestrian
entrance, making walking the primary way of getting to a building.
• Stairways should be prominent and obvious within buildings, with elevators and lifts further
away from entrances and encountered after the stairs. Where possible, they should be
designed as a feature element in a building, encouraging use.
8.2 Provide activity infrastructure inside and outside buildings
• Secure cycle parking should be provided at destinations appropriately. Shops and other
facilities should have visitor cycle parking accessible in the public realm. Offices and
employment buildings should provide cycle parking for employees as well as accessible
visitor cycle parking.
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• Showers, lockers and changing spaces should be provided and signposted within buildings,
close to secure cycle parking, to encourage active travel.
• In homes, cycle storage should be located so that it is easier to cycle for a journey than to
take the car. Where it is not possible to easily provide accessible and convenient internal
cycle parking, the provision of cycle hangars within the street should be considered
• Pushchair and children’s scooter parking can be provided in appropriate facilities to

encourage families to arrive by active means. Access should be level following the principles
of Universal Design.
• As the population ages, buildings should be adaptable for a lifetime’s useand changing
requirements. All buildings, both residential and otherwise, will need wider doors, space for
wheelchairs, enough space for circulation with limited mobility, and enough lighting.
8.3 Utilise areas within and around buildings to support activity
• Informal spaces within and around buildings can accommodate uses such as table tennis
tables or table football or outdoor gyms.
• A landscape plan can identify areas where informal outdoor gatherings can occur, with
appropriate provision made such as seating, planting or pathways, which can encourage
people to use outdoor space. Including planting and natural habitats in these spaces can
increase contact with nature.
• Covered spaces outside buildings can enable people to use outdoor spaces for more months
of the year, or even throughout. Consideration of solar aspect and microclimates can also
extend the use of outdoor spaces.
• Office spaces can encourage movement, for example with sit-stand desks or spaces that
encourage circulation.
8.4 Consider how to repurpose valued local assets into new active destinations
• Existing valued heritage buildings can be transformed into valuable new assets that can
encourage people to get out and get active. When considering re-use, make sure that activity
possibilities are considered along with other potential uses.
• Heritage buildings can form the centrepiece of local heritage or art trails, or become new
community spaces that can host activities such as fitness or dance classes.
• Repurposing old department stores, with deep, flexible floors, into new town or city centre
leisure destinations can be a successful way of saving a local landmark. Schemes that
integrate residential development can ensure greater viability, as well as encouraging a mix
of uses.
• Older buildings can often lack level access or infrastructure to support active travel when
getting there. Where possible, sensitive interventions should be made to adapt old buildings
to modern requirements without harming overall character.
Useful Resources
Adaptable and Accessible Homes Standards, Doc M and British Standard 8300 is a guide to making
homes adaptable in the future as people’s needs change, and maintaining activity.
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Centre for Accessible Environments and the National Register of Access Consultants (NRAC) hold
considerable resources and expertise on accessibility of buildings and other environments.
Design Code for Schools - DfE
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THEME 3: Creating and Maintaining Activity
It is essential that once delivered, spaces are utilised effectively and can be relied upon to be useful
for years to come. To achieve this, how spaces will be used and maintained should be factored in
within the design process at the outset, and opportunities for activation of theses spaces should be
explored. Often, designing spaces to be flexible and accommodating multiple different uses can
prevent a space becoming disused and allow it to respond to evolving and changing needs of a
community, and changing activity trends.
The Principles
9 – Maintaining High Quality Flexible Spaces
10 – Activating Spaces
• People are more likely to use their environment actively if places and facilities seem well
maintained and safe.
• The monitoring and evaluation of activity interventions allows understanding to be developed

of what is effective and what is less so. This allows changes to be made as required, to
increase opportunities or the effectiveness of interventions.
• Encouraging people to be active through the activation of spaces and facilities is essential
for communicating the benefits of activity and increasing participation, especially with people
who traditionally feel excluded and or those who are less active, such as those with long
term health conditions.
• Ensuring spaces and facilities are well maintained and managed enables them to provide
value for money and to have a longer lifespan and remain an asset for communities for a
longer period of time.
• Well managed and maintained facilities are more effective, more resource efficient and used
more, leading to less need for replacement.
• Creating spaces which can be used flexibly for many different activities prevents the need
to provide a profligacy of spaces, and as such is more effective in creating compact places.
In turn, this encourages the co-location of facilities (See Principle 4)
• Communicating and promoting activity opportunities in an effective and innovative way can
open up opportunities to those who are less active, less confident to be active or simply
unaware that opportunities exist. This can strengthen community bonds, increasing
community cohesion and reducing loneliness.
Economic Growth
• Activating spaces can have knock on benefits to the economy by increasing footfall in spaces
and facilities, which can be vitally useful as a tool to regenerate or reactivate places.
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• Utilising spaces for multiple uses reduces the need to invest in multiple facilities and
increases the opportunities for economies of scale within a particular facility or space.
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Principle 9 – Maintaining High Quality Flexible Spaces
The Aim
Spaces and facilities should be effectively maintained and managed to support physical activity.
These places should be monitored to understand how they are used, and then enable them to be
adapted as needed.
How to do it
The management, long-term maintenance and viability of facilities and public spaces should be
considered in their design. As these spaces operate, monitoring should be undertaken of their use
and effectiveness. This enables evaluation, assessing the success of Active Design initiatives and
understanding where changes can be made. Where spaces and facilities have been designed flexibly
(see Principle 6), design responses can be undertaken to respond to this evaluation, or spaces could
be activated differently (see Principle 10).
9.1 Manage and maintain spaces to enable effective use
• People are more likely to participate in sport and physical activity if places to be active are
attractive and safe 36. Whilst spaces may be effective in encouraging physical activity through
their design at the outset, this must be maintained to enable continued effective use over
the lifetime of a place or facility.
• As part of the management of space, it is important that a broad range of users are targeted,
with a focus on those who are most in need, to reduce health disparities. This can be both
through the management of facilities and through activation (see Principle 10)
• The broader use of school sports facilities by local communities outside of school hours offers
significant opportunities for expanding access to sports and physical activity. Community
Use Agreements can be an effective tool to achieve this access (see Houlton Case Study).
Revenue from community use can fund on-going maintenance.
9.2 Monitor the effectiveness of Active Design interventions and be prepared to make
changes if circumstances have changed
• All Active Design interventions should be monitored to understand their effectiveness,

regardless of their typology or scale. This monitoring will then indicate whether a space is
operating as designed, alternative operation has been taking place (beyond the expected
design or use) or that a space is ineffective and requires reconsideration.
• Spaces which have been flexibly designed (see Principle 6) can be adjusted to enable
effective responses to these monitoring outputs, whether minor or major changes are
required. This can be to make changes to further maximise the value and effectiveness of
activity interventions or to adjust their effectiveness to encourage activity from particular
groups or those in need.
• This monitoring and evaluation can also help to measure and understand long term health
impacts, and the changing characteristics, health profile and demographic needs of a
community.
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9.3 Consider management and monitoring, and how it will be funded, at an early stage
• Spaces should be designed to be able to respond to the changing needs of a community over
time (see Principle 6), and as such, how spaces can respond to monitoring outcomes should
be considered at the outset of the design process.
• How this management and maintenance will be secured and funded should be considered at
an early stage. Monitoring and evaluating of physical activity initiatives can be embedded
into monitoring activity required as part of planning permissions to measure the impacts of
new developments at different scales, including buildings, spaces, streets or places.
• Major development provide the opportunity to secure funding towards community

development (e.g. staff and activation budgets) and the monitoring and evaluation of Active
Design interventions should be considered as part of this as well as the delivery of
programmes to get the community active.
• Alternatives to local authority management of public realm, streets, spaces and formal open
space may need be considered, and the right organisation should be identified at an early
stage.
• Alternative management groups might include sports clubs managing new playing fields, or
developers taking responsibility for public open space and related facilities, either as part of
their own management regime or with the support of other management entities.
• Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) may be appropriate stewards of the public realm in
certain locations such as town centres.
Useful Resources
The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) publish a practical guide on Long Term
Stewardship in new developments.
Further information on sports facility management can be found in the Sport England Asset Transfer
Guidance 37
There is a free online resource from Sport England (Use Our School) that offers further guidance
and information for local authorities and other education providers on how to make the best use of
school facilities for the benefit of the local community. It is especially useful for those who have
responsibility within a school for establishing, sustaining and growing community activity on school
sites. 'Use Our School' can be accessed here; www.sportengland.org/useourschool
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Principle 10 – Activating Spaces
The Aim
The provision of spaces and facilities which improve physical activity should be supported by
commitment to activate these spaces, encouraging people to be active and increasing the awareness
of activity opportunities within a community.
How to do it
Methods to promote sport and physical activity should be supported to communicate the benefits of
participation in sport and physical activity across all settings including neighbourhoods, workplaces
and facilities. Effective investment should be employed to allow this promotion, with consideration
given to how promotion could be more effective to target those in the most need.
Volunteers and local champions within a community should be supported and encouraged where
possible as often local people can be the most effective in communicating within their communities
the opportunities for sport and physical activity, especially in harder to reach groups.
Facility managers should encourage wide and varied use of public spaces and places and establish
a broad programme of events to engage the local community and visitors.
10.1 Provide investment into activity promotion, as well as provision itself
• Once a space or facility is provided, consider how it may function in the early days of its
existence. Think about who it is designed for, and how the existence of the space or facility
will be promoted in local communities effectively.
• Investment into programming will ensure that capital investment is used to its best effect,
and can prevent a new space or facility being wasted or underperforming.
• Engage with local stakeholders, active partnership groups or local councils to set up a
programme of events to activate the space, enabling the widest range of promotion within
the community.
• As part of wider stewardship programmes, major new developments provide the opportunity
to secure investment (e.g. community activation funds) to support projects to get the
community active when they move into a development in order to help create and embed
habits from the outset
10.2 Make spaces social to form connections around activity
• Sport and physical activity should be a fun experience, and can have a positive impact on
both physical and mental health. Sharing these experiences with others can be a good way
to make or maintain social connections, which can help reduce loneliness and create lasting
friendships. It can also be a method to foster community cohesion.
• Spaces should be designed and activity promoted with this in mind, providing not just spaces
for activity but space for people to gather, sit and chat following or before activities.
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10.3 Use digital technology to promote and activate
• Technology and social media can provide an easy, effective and highly accessible method to
facilitate, communicate and encourage activity. Innovative and effective methods of utilising
technology to promote activity in local spaces should be explored.
• The use of communication technologies and social media can be an excellent method of
increasing awareness of activity opportunities harder to reach groups and those who are less
active.
• The utilisation of fitness and health tracking applications is increasing year on year, and
these can be an excellent method of encouraging more informal activity, either alone or in
groups. Spaces should be designed to accommodate this activity, especially creating safe
spaces for those exercising alone (see Principle 6).
10.4 Encourage temporary uses and testing of ideas
• The temporary use of space can provide opportunities to promote specific sports or activities
and to demonstrate the wider possibilities to promoted physical activity. This can be through
temporary events, or through trailing activity interventions in different contexts to see if
they are successful in a local community, prior to investing in a facility or programme of
activation.
• Temporary uses and testing of ideas is a useful method to demonstrate the benefits of
activity interventions without significant investment, allowing efficient use of resources.
BOX Al-Fresco Dining, Soho, London (Flexible Spaces)
To help in the safe economic recovery of the hospitality sector after the Covid-19 pandemic, and
encourage more people back into cities, the UK government relaxed restrictions on pavement dining
licences from summer 2020. In Soho, Westminster Council closed many streets to vehicle traffic to
allow the allocation of space to safe street dining in the open air.
The scheme was a success in terms of helping the economic recovery of businesses in Soho, and
encouraging many more people back into central London, and made walking in Soho considerably
easier and more attractive. This flexible use of existing space, and prioritising people over vehicles
in the public realm, has encouraged the government and many councils to continue the scheme, and
transform many streets and public spaces into more active destinations. There were issues that
occurred during the trial with footways becoming difficult or impossible to use for those with
disabilities, and this has played a part in informing the post-Covid revised scheme’s more limited
locations and suitable streets.
Useful Resources
Public Health England provides guidance and information on the role and benefits of community
champions in reducing health inequalities. 38
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APPLYING THE PRINCIPLES
The principles of Active Design can be applied anywhere in the built environment. They have the
most effect when combined with each other and can be applied from the largest scales to smallest
details.
Through a mix of in-depth case studies and illustrative places, this guide shows how the principles
can be applied in a variety of places, from a city centre through to rural villages. Case studies take
a detailed look at how Active Design principles have been delivered on the ground, in terms of
strategy, process, funding and design success. Illustrative places demonstrate how the principles
can be applied, giving inspiration for planners and designers working in some of the most common
development typologies.
CASE STUDY / ILLUSTRATIVE PLACE MAP
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Case Study – Houlton – Large-Scale Residential Led Development
Background
Houlton is a residential-led development of 6,200 homes, located to the east of Rugby, Warwickshire
on the site of the former Rugby Radio Station. Designed to be a complete new community, it includes
schools, shops, community facilities, sports pitches and employment space, linked together with an
extensive and varied network of green open spaces and active travel networks.
Houlton is being developed by master developer Urban&Civic, who deliver the site infrastructure
including open spaces, schools and other key placemaking ingredients. Urban&Civic then sell parcels
of land to housebuilders, who develop within this overall framework.
Health, wellbeing and activity are considered throughout the design at all scales. The site
demonstrates a comprehensive consideration of the principles of Active Design when applied to
major new development.
Small context plan
How it happened
• An overarching masterplan set the core structure for the site
• At a later stage, more detailed design codes are set out for key phases of development, with
landscape and open space networks prioritised. This enables flexibility and responsiveness
of detailed design
• The key infrastructure that supports and enables activity and active lifestyles is delivered by
master developer Urban&Civic. This supports the long-term investment in the quality and
value of the site.
• Development parcels are sold to housebuilders, to be developed in line with the design code
for that key phase, which defines clearly how these areas should connect into networks and
spaces.
Why is it successful?
• Although only 900 homes have been occupied to date, participation in community activities
and usage of active facilities such as sports pitches, allotments, community gardens and the
open space network is a high proportion of the population.
• In its early stages, Houlton saw a considerably higher sales rate of homes than the
surrounding area, and is now seeing increase sales values, reflecting the attractiveness of
the new community and its quality of life, driven by the open space network and facilities
within walking distance. Urban&Civic have 14 development sites across south-east England
following a similar model.
Lessons Learned
• The open space network brings the place together and enables activity interventions.
• A continuing interest in the site enables Urban&Civic to invest for long-term quality, which
in turn leads to faster sales and higher values. Active lifestyles, health and walkable
neighbourhoods for higher quality of life are a key part of the attraction for potential new
residents. In this case this approach is being delivered by a private developer, but these
lessons are applicable to all sites.
• An ongoing flexible approach to development ensures that decisions can be revisited,

adaptations can be made, and new opportunities to improve activity, health and wellbeing
can be taken in response to surveys and changing trends.
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The Principles in Action
Activity for all
Houlton is designed to be a self-contained new community,and offers homes and facilities for a wide
range of groups, including a proportion of affordable homes as well as other specialist
accommodation types.
Networks and open spaces are designed to be inclusive to those with different levels of accessibility,
and the Urban&Civic regularly undertakes residents’ surveys to understand issues that emerge.
Children’s play is extensively and inventively provisioned throughout the development, with a major
neighbourhood park that includes a wide range of equipment for different ages, through to informal
play incorporated within open space networks and streets by simple interventions like logs to climb
on. Urban&Civic is funding a 3-year research project to understand how to integrate and encourage
children’s play even more successfully in the future.
The site has newly-opened allotments which have been oversubscribed, and along with the
neighbouring community garden, these offer another activity option for the community.
Walkable communities
Local centres, schools, sports facilities and community facilities are designed and delivered in key
locations at the heart of the masterplan, and are typically delivered prior to homes. This ensures the
ingredients of a walkable place are there when new residents arrive, encouraging active travel habits
from day one. Houlton is designed so that children can be educated at all age levels within 1 mile of
all homes on site. Coupled with the early delivery of primary schools and a secondary school which
are integrated with the walking and cycling network, this encourages early and consistent adoption
of active travel habits.
As part of the travel planning package, new residents get a free bus pass with each new household,
and a travel pack with information about walking and cycling networks and local public transport
options. A monitor and manage approach to parking provision has ensured that car parking at the
Dollman Farm centre is significantly lower than local authority requirements, due to the success of
active travel options.
Connected walking and cycling routes
The entire development is linked with a comprehensive network of active travel routes. These are
designed to be appropriate to the street or space they are within, and their function within the
network. They vary from dedicated cycleways and segregated footways along main streets, to shared
surface spaces within quiet residential streets. Wider connections are considered and active travel
connections to nearby employment areas are coming forward soon.
‘Green’ pedestrian links form an alternative network away from streets, overlooked by homes. Many
of these are ‘trim trails’, offering informal play and fitness equipment along the route. School routes
offer ‘play along the way’ opportunities.
The principle of filtered permeability is employed for all neighbourhoods and development parcels.
Continuous networks are provided for walking and cycling, but not for vehicles, which are directed
towards main roads where walking and cycling facilities have the space to be segregated and fully
provisioned.
Mixing uses and co-locating facilities
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Careful thought has been given to the co-location of land uses and facilities, which are mixed
throughout the residential parcels and connected to the walking and cycling network. An important
early project has been the conversion of the former Dollman Farm into a centre combining a
café/restaurant, community hall, co-working space, nursery and local shop (Co-Operative), next to
sports pitches, allotments and a community garden.
The secondary school is located in the former C-station of the Rugby Radio Station, and has been
retrofitted and reimagined in an award-winning development. It will form a key part of the district
centre in later phases, envisaged as the mixed-use heart of the new community.
Urban&Civic have delivered the non-residential land uses and facilities, investing in their quality as
important placemaking components of the new community.
Network of multifunctional open space
Houlton is brought together by its comprehensive open space network. This continuous network
contains civic parks, play areas, nature reserves, sports pitches, allotments, community gardens,
surface water management and wetland habitat. It also hosts a complete active travel network that
links with the street network to allow a choice of routes throughout the site. These networks create
leisure as well as utility networks, and host nature trails and wayfinding with information about
nature and heritage en-route to encourage their use.
High quality streets and spaces
There is a mix of street types that have been considered as part of the masterplanning process to
deliver pedestrian and cycling movement first, with vehicles segregated on most main streets.
Cyclists only join vehicle carriageways in quiet residential streets. Some streets that link open spaces
are only designated for active uses, with vehicle access kept away or limited to private drives and
separated by fences.
Street trees are provided throughout within the design of the street, and side road crossings are
designed to make clear (through materials and raised tables) to drivers that pedestrians and cyclists
have priority. Civic spaces, such as those at Dollman Farm and outside schools, are protected from
traffic and prioritise pedestrians.
As well as formal streets and civic spaces, a major natural space has been set aside on Normandy
Hill for walks and outdoor recreation. It is centrally located and within walking distance of homes on
the site, and offers views across the surrounding countryside.
Providing Activity Infrastructure
Active travel is supported by provision of cycle parking at key destinations and facilities throughout
the site. There is seating within the open space networks at appropriate locations, and this is
considered as part of the landscape plan. Outdoor gyms and play equipment are provided along trim
trails and within open spaces, particularly on potential routes to school. Wayfinding and information
boards are located along the active travel networks and within natural open spaces to encourage
their use as a leisure activity.
Larger infrastructure investments include a future new pedestrian bridge to the neighbouring
Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT), a major employer, and dedicated cycleways
to surrounding areas and neighbouring Rugby.
Active buildings inside and out
A community use agreement (CUE) with the secondary school enables local residents and local sports
clubs to benefit from the school’s sports hall by safeguarding bookable slots for them to utilise. This
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is supported by an additional entrance to the school so the public can access the facilities without
needing to enter the school itself. An additional agreement with a new on-site commercial gym
enables the primary school to access pool facilities.
Maintaining High Quality Flexible Spaces
Open spaces are maintained by a management company, who charge all residents an annual fee.
The quality of outdoor spaces, their upkeep and their contribution to quality of life is a key part of
the commercial strategy of the development to sell homes.
As Urban&Civic maintains a long-term interest in the site, a continuous programme of monitoring

how people use spaces is undertaken. This information can result in changes to the masterplan and
ongoing development of the site.
Activating Spaces
Early conversion of part of Dollman Farm into the Tuning Fork restaurant created a walkable
destination to focus the early community around. Its success caused a rethink of the masterplan to
site a local centre there.
During the early stages of establishing the community, the developer has supported community
groups looking to use sports, community and school facilities, and looks to identify community
‘champions’ who can take forward the governance of the site into the future.
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Case Study: Aspire@ThePark, Pontefract
Community and Sport Facility
Background
Aspire@ThePark is a community and sports facility which is located within Pontefract Park, to the
north-west of Pontefract, Yorkshire. The Park also houses Pontefract Racecourse, with
Aspire@ThePark built upon land which previously accommodated a number of tennis courts which
had fallen into disrepair to the south of the racecourse.
Aspire@ThePark was opened in 2021 and part-funded by Sport England, and it provides a valuable
local community sports facility at the heart of an existing open space. Facilities on site include:
- two swimming pools, one 10 lane 25m pool, one ‘studio pool’ with adjustable depth to
accommodate a wide range of aqua-activities;
- fully equipped gym, overlooking Pontefract Park;
- fitness studios, including spaces which are bookable by local health partnerships, and a
spin cycling studio;
- Climbing area fitted with auto-belay and bouldering wall;
- 4G football pitch;
- 4 tennis courts;
- Café, open to the public 7 days a week, located in the reception area of the building which
is accessible even if not participating in activities on site;
- Public toilets, including an accessible toilet on the outside of the building; and
- Pedestrian and cycle links to the wider park and local communities.
The combination of these facilities, their use and the role the facility plays within the local
community make it an excellent example of the Active Design Principles in practice.
Small context plan
How it happened
• Leisure was brought into the Health Improvement Team of the Council, allowing the
creation and implementation of a wider strategy from Wakefield District Council to unite
physical activity and health, including social prescribing and other health interventions.
This enabled opportunities to explore a more holistic offer within the facilities.
• Understanding of local context and facilities available allowed decisions to be made on

what to accommodate on site, and what to rely on other provision elsewhere to provide.
This led to the focus on the provision of multiple studio spaces rather than a single large
sports hall.
• Caters for a wide range of activities, with the flexibility of the spaces offered (eg. studio
space, adjustable depth pool) enabling a vast range of activities to be accommodated.
• It has helped to regenerate the Park, creating a destination and bringing people into a
space which was previously less used. The provision of the public toilets and café have
further added to this, combining opportunity for both formal and informal activity.
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Lessons Learned
• Long term vision and political buy-in essential in delivering large scale investment into
activity interventions, particularly at this scale.
• Dialogue with local community groups, neighbouring uses and local business essential in
managing conflicts where they occur and maximising effectiveness of facilities and activity
interventions.
Applying the Principles
Activity for all
As demonstrated by the range of facilities present, Aspire@ThePark caters for a wide range of
activities and users. The flexibility and effective management of these facilities enable the needs of
a range of groups to be accommodated, avoiding conflicts. An example of this is the size of the
pool (10 lanes) enables public swimming to occur alongside school swimming lessons, with space
for circulation and without conflict.
Injury rehabilitation sessions are also accommodated within the ‘studio pool’, and programmes
such as cardiovascular rehabilitation sessions operate within the studio spaces. Once discharged or
recovered, participants of these sessions often meet at the café within the facility, meeting with
friends made and continuing bonds established through the sessions, and undertaking activity at
the site.
Whilst on the edge of Pontefract, Aspire@ThePark is located a 10/15min walk from Pontefract town
centre. This, combined with the facility acting as a ‘destination’ space for multiple different
activities, creates the opportunity for linked trips by walking or cycling.
The Aspire@ThePark facility is located in Pontefract Park, and is close to Pontefract Racecourse and
the New College, which offers specialist sports and leisure courses. The facility has brought new
users to the park, and in turn increases vitality of the space, and has helped its viability. The
Racecourse is a popular local running route (also hosting a parkrun) and users of Aspire@ThePark
often combine activity within the facility, or use of the café, with running the popular loop.
Aspire@ThePark also offers rental of equipment to use within the park, including running buggies
to encourage activity in its surroundings.
Aspire@ThePark also provides facilities for the Trust which manages the park, with a small
meeting room accessible from the side of the building, separate from the main entrance. This
allows the Trust to use the room anytime, even when the facility is closed. The Trust also
encourage park users to utilise the facilities within the building, with a local ‘storytelling’ route
encouraging children to explore the park incorporating the entrance area to Aspire@ThePark.
Active buildings inside and out
Aspire@ThePark takes a prominent location within the park, at the entrance closest to Pontefract
town centre. Cycle parking is located right at the entrance to the building, with lockable secure
cycle spaces to the side.
Parking is located at the rear of the building, and is not obvious on approach. Pedestrian linkages
have been established on clear desire lines within the park, as well as linking to the college,
drawing people to the entrance of the building. Much of the building’s frontage is glass, both
providing visiabilty to the activities going on inside but also providing active surveillance of the
park.
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Within the internal layout of the building, care has been taken to ensure that there are many
appropriate opportunities to glimpse activity, such as views from the café into the pool area. The
layout has been designed to ensure that where circulation areas are present, stairs are clearly
located and are often in locations more prominent than lifts.
Maintaining High Quality Flexible Spaces
A key aspect of the design of Aspire@ThePark is the creation of flexible spaces which can be used
for a great number of different activities. This not only provides for lots of different users (See
Activity for All above) but also allows the spaces to adapt over time, providing for new activities
which were not necessarily envisaged within a space at the outset. An example of this is the tennis
courts are used weekly by a local cycle training scheme, who undertake cycle lessons and
proficiency testing on the tennis court area.
Activating Spaces
The operator of Aspire@ThePark employs both service staff for the building and ‘Activators’ who
are responsible for activating the spaces within. These work closely with the staff managing the
building to ensure that the activities organised are fit for purpose and can easily be
accommodated. These activators also work with local health practitioners and commissioning
services with social prescribing programmes, including healthy weight programmes.
Aspire@ThePark also works with New College, providing training courses and employment
opportunities, as well as support for sporting and leisure courses offered by the College. This
further entrenches the role of the facility within the local community.
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Active Design
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Case Study – Nottingham City Centre – Active Travel Transformation
Background
Nottingham is engaged in an ongoing programme of transforming the city’s streets for active travel.
This includes an extensive network of new segregated on-street cycle routes that will connect all
parts of the city, local networks, junction improvements, and a radical change to the city centre and
its public realm, removing private vehicles from key streets.
In June 2020, Nottingham and Derby City Councils received £161m financial backing for a significant
programme of transport improvements, funded through the Department for Transport’s
Transforming Cities Fund. This success followed a process of developing plans, building support and
creating deliverable schemes. A number of schemes have already been delivered, and many more
are in the pipeline as part of a rolling programme of investment.
The active travel improvements are integrated with extensive public transport upgrades, including
bus priority measures, real-time information provision and expansion of the tram network.
How it happened
• Cycling infrastructure was recognised as offering multiple benefits for the city and a good
overall return on investment. This fed into a political ambition to improve quality of life for
residents and make Nottingham cycle-friendly.
• Cycle infrastructure design guidance was produced, to guide the standards for new
cycleways and junction design.
• A strategic network design was created as part of the Local Plan to identify key corridors
and prioritise them based on deliverability and local benefits, particularly prioritising areas
with higher levels of deprivation.
• Using the DfT’s Active Mode Appraisal Toolkit, overall costs and benefits were assessed. An
assessment by Active Travel England of Nottingham’s capacity to deliver and effectiveness
of the proposed schemes underpinned the success of the bid to the Transforming Cities Fund.
• Ongoing scheme delivery is now underway, with complete corridors delivered, including
junction improvements. This includes a number of new active travel-only bridges.
• Continuous public engagement on schemes, with adaptations responding to concerns, has

built wide support for the transformation, along with evidence of delivery success and
improvements to quality of life, particularly in the city centre.
• Development sites coming forward through the planning process that connect to or form
part of the strategic network have a clear basis for design and masterplanning.
• Successful early delivery of schemes, backed by clear design standards, has helped build a
basis for central government funding of the city-wide transformation and wider rollout of
schemes
• Continuous corridors, connecting key destinations, are delivered along with junction
improvements instead of piecemeal improvements that do not join up, encouraging usage
• Improvements to the cycling network are married with improvements to the city centre
public realm and quality of environment, removing private vehicles from key streets and
creating new spaces for socialising, outdoor activity and recreation.
• The clarity of the strategic cycle route scheme enables site-level design to proceed with
certainty on what is needed and how policy will be applied to determination
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Lessons Learned
• Political ambition and support are essential to speed delivery
• A clear underlying strategic plan of routes can align public and private development aims
• Early delivery of schemes with visible benefits can build confidence
• Detailed work, public engagement and exploration of options, pros and cons of junction
redesigns can deliver better schemes that work for all
Activity for all
The city’s cycling infrastructure design sets out universal cycling standards that cover a wide range
of different types of cycles, beyond typical two-wheeled bicycles, ensuring the network is inclusive.
Junction design, where multiple different modes could come into conflict, is undertaken in detail,
considering pedestrians and cyclists, then public transport and finally private vehicles. Universal
design principles ensure that those with physical or sensory disabilities can safely navigate junctions.
Delivery of the strategic cycling network has been phased to prioritise more deprived
neighbourhoods and districts within the city. The network phasing also prioritises links to
destinations where a large proportion of users are likely to use active travel, such as universities,
hospitals and major employment locations that are at a distance from the city centre.
Connected walking and cycling routes
Underpinning the transformation is a recognition of the importance of a fully connected strategic

network, giving good coverage and direct routes into the city centre and between key destinations.
The routes take a variety of forms. Typically they are segregated 3-4m two-way tracks on main
roads, separated by a kerb or upstand from vehicle traffic, and given priority at side road junctions.
Where the route takes a residential street, cycles share the carriageway with vehicles, but only if
vehicle traffic is restricted through a modal filter so it only provides access to homes on the street.
Reorientation of give way priority markings has been undertaken to ensure cyclists on the route
have priority.
At busy junctions with a significant amount of vehicle traffic, cycle routes are continuous and legible,
and do not conflict with pedestrian traffic. Designs for cycle routes do not adopt ‘highway’ approaches
to managing flows of cyclists, instead adopting low-impact approaches which rely on cyclists giving
way and slowing at junctions.
Network of multifunctional open space
The cycling networks link and create new open spaces throughout the city. Most notably, several
city centre streets have had cars removed from them to create civic spaces, and a new green open
space created on Middle Hill as part of a combined active travel upgrade and tram bridge.
Links to and through parks and along the river Trent form part of the network, and wider green
infrastructure assets in the Trent Valley are connected, such as Attenborough Nature Reserve.
The cycling network connects to locations such as Queens Drive Park & Ride, where a BMX pump
track has been created, connecting to a wider woodland leisure cycling network and routes along
the River Trent.
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The city centre has seen a number of street changes, including Canal Street, where private motor
vehicles have been removed through modal filters, and only buses, cyclists and pedestrians can use
it. This removes a significant barrier between the city centre and the rail station and canalside.
Smaller city streets, such as Carrington Street, have had vehicles removed completely with high
quality paving replacing tarmac carriageways, to create a pedestrian and cyclist only zone. These
interventions are planned as part of wider networks to connect key destinations, and integrated with
building redevelopment such as the planned Broadgate redevelopment.
Separated cycling infrastructure is provided on routes with lots of vehicle traffic, transitioning to on-
street on quieter residential streets, with appropriate modal filters to prevent vehicle cut-throughs.
Side road junction design is consistent across the city, with a prominent green paint colour (the
city’s corporate colour) painted where cycleways cross side roads. This makes cycling priority visible
and easy to understand for vehicle users and cyclists.
New active travel bridges have been, or will be, provided at key points where they can connect
routes up. In the west of the city a new bridge now connects the NET tram stop with the Boots
employment site, which will be a centre for regeneration and development in the coming years. A
further bridge over the River Trent is planned for the Trent Basin area, connecting to a riverside
park and large sporting facilities.
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Case Study – Activity at and around work
Background
There are many different types of employment and working environments, and millions of us spend
considerable amounts of our lives there. The principles of Active Design can be applied across a wide
range of employment locations, encouraging people at work to be physically active, and making the
areas in which people work more conducive to active travel and physical activity.
This case study draws from a number of different locations to give an overview of how Active Design
can be applied at work and in areas where people work:
1. Maylands, Hemel Hempstead – an older industrial estate being transformed
2. Here East, Olympic Park, London – a new mixed creative and innovation district
3. Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and Daresbury Laboratory – large institutions
4. Baytree Nuneaton – large modern warehousing facility
How it happened
• At Maylands, a recognition that renewal was needed translated into a masterplan that
prioritised use mixing, active travel-friendly streets and a healthy environment to ensure the
district retained its long-term competitiveness
• At Here East, the sporting legacy of the 2012 Olympics was put into practice through creative
repurposing of the buildings and spaces around them.
• At Rutherford Appleton and Daresbury Laboratories, being large institutions away from
nearby facilities meant that on-site provision of sports and recreational facilities were
included, and staff demand is driving new provision and improved cycling facility provision.
• At Baytree Nuneaton, the demands of a competitive labour market means employers are
keen to retain and attract employees with an improved quality of workspace, and to minimise
loss of work due to ill health. These factors have combined to make health and wellbeing
key selling points of the buildings.
• Enabling people to be active during their working day, especially for those who work in
offices and are largely sedentary in their employment, can bring big benefits to the
workforce’s health and overall happiness
Lessons Learned
• Activity can be incorporated into a wide variety of work environments, and the main
requirement is a recognition that employees want to work in healthy places and workspaces,
with access to recreation and facilities during downtime
• Early masterplanning of new sites and schemes can yield big benefits by articulating a vision
for an active and healthy place
Maylands, Hemel Hempstead
Maylands is a major mixed industrial estate, created as part of the 1947 New Town plans for Hemel
Hempstead. Formerly the home of Kodak in Europe, it now hosts a vibrant mix of light industrial,
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Active Design
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office and warehousing uses. To support its regeneration, a masterplan was prepared to guide new
development into a more mixed and integrated district.
The ‘Heart of Maylands’ centre sits in the middle of the estate and is easily accessible by walking
from most businesses. It is being regenerated as a mixed-use centre, with local retail, cafes,
restaurants and essential facilities being developed. Residential development is also occurring above
ground floor active uses, with a focus on affordable housing close to jobs. A co-working hub increases
the job density around this key centre. This mixed development is being concentrated at the most
connected and accessible location, and enables workers within Maylands to access facilities within a
walkable distance of their work.
Providing connecting walking and cycling routes
Supporting the mixed uses at Heart of Maylands, the key streets through the estate are being
progressively upgraded with new dedicated cycleways and improved pedestrian crossings. These
connect to the Nickey Line, a former railway line and now cycleway, to the north, and to the emerging
Quietway network of rural lanes with traffic reduction measures. Localised junction improvements
and cycle crossings of the A414, a major dual carriageway, increase the connectivity of the network
and make it more accessible to less confident cyclists.
Here East, Olympic Park, London
Here East is a is an innovation and technology campus situated in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park,
London. It is located in the former 2012 Olympics Media Centre. It hosts a mix of creative companies,
educational institutions, supporting retail and catering, and cultural spaces. Creative businesses
based in Hackney and neighbourhoods nearby can occupy spaces in Here East, making it a valuable
part of the local community. Adjacent to Here East are two local primary schools, small industrial
workshop units, a canal, and the former Copper Box Arena, now a multifunctional sporting facility.
The site also includes some residential apartments for an even wider mix of uses.
Network of multi-functional open space
As part of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Here East is located within a major network of open
spaces strung along the Lea Valley, which provides a wider network, and access to a wide range of
sporting facilities both formal and informal. Within Here East itself, spaces include a civic square
(‘the yard’), a canalside terrace and a landscaped walk, which connects to nearby woodland, sports
fields and nature reserve.
Here East prioritises active travel throughout, with only limited service access for delivery vehicles
and a route for buses. Car parking is consolidated at the edge in a multi-storey car park which allows
the streets to be focused around walking, wheeling and cycling. Buildings have active frontages
facing streets and spaces, exposing the activities within to provide a visual link between outside and
inside, and making the outdoor spaces more usable and attractive.
Activating spaces
At the centre of the scheme is the yard, a flexible space that can accommodate an outdoor cinema,
public markets and a public events space for the local community. At one end of the yard is the
auditorium, which is used for talks, screenings, exhibitions and cultural events for the local
community.
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and Daresbury Laboratory
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) and Daresbury Laboratory (DL) are the Science and
Technology Facilities Council (STFC)’s two major national laboratories, hosting national scientific
experiments and facilities, and employing nearly 3,000 people on site. Both are large ‘campuses’,
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Active Design
January 2023
located away from nearby towns, and provide a wide range of amenities on site for their mixed and
diverse workforce.
Both sites have on-site gyms, and RAL offers football pitches, tennis courts and bookable indoor
rooms, which enable staff to engage in sports and physical activity at lunchtime or before and after
work. RAL and DL are both located in the countryside, and have access to an extensive network of
wider public rights of way, and at RAL the site is large enough to include walking routes and woodland
within an area of landscape created from excavation of a major facility previously. Low-cost
interventions have been made in this area, with benches and tables provided.
Both laboratories are keen to encourage people to get to work via active means, particularly cycling.
New buildings provide secure bicycle storage and showers.
Activating Spaces
Daresbury Laboratory runs a regular 5k/10k run from the site through the surrounding woodland,
encouraging staff to take part and providing a visible sporting event and creating publicity for the
wider recreational networks.
Baytree Nuneaton
Baytree are a major developer of logistics facilities, part of the AXA Group. At Nuneaton, they are
developing a new group of major warehousing facilities which put the health and wellbeing of
employees front and centre. In a competitive jobs market for logistics at the heart of England,
employers in this space (who will lease the buildings) are looking to retain employees and minimise
staff absence due to illness and poor health.
Active Buildings
The new warehouses incorporate a range of physical activity and wellness interventions around the
exterior. A running route around the building will link outdoor gym equipment, recreational seating
and gathering areas within planted landscaping, that also incorporates essential drainage and
ecological habitats.
Inside the buildings, the office and circulation areas prioritise staircases for internal movement, and
include seating areas and recreational spaces. Internal facilities include a climbing wall, to encourage
regular physical activity during breaks.
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January 2023
References
1
UK Chief Medical Officers' Physical Activity Guidelines 2019 -
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachme
nt_data/file/832868/uk-chief-medical-officers-physical-activity-guidelines.pdf
2
Use of science to guide city planning policy and practice: how to achieve healthy and
sustainable future cities - PubMed (nih.gov)
3
https://www.activepartnerships.org/
4Mayfair Youth Forum https://voiceopportunitypower.com/uploads/MYF-Case-Study-long.pdf
Nottingham Trent Basin: Nottingham-Trent-Case-Study.pdf (voiceopportunitypower.com)
Aberfeldy: Aberfeldy-Estate-Case-Study.pdf (voiceopportunitypower.com)
5
https://www.sportengland.org/guidance-and-support/facilities-and-planning/design-
and-cost-guidance/accessible-facilities
6
https://www.sportengland.org/about-us/uniting-movement
7
https://www.involve.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/Not-Another-Consultation.pdf
8
https://www.sportengland.org/funds-and-campaigns/local-delivery
9
Driven to excess: Impacts of motor vehicles on the quality of life of residents of three
streets in Bristol UK, Hart, Joshua; Parkhurst, Graham (2011)
10
https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/transport/cycling-and-
walking/transforming-cycling-outer-boroughs-mini-hollands-programme
11
Walking and cycling: the economic benefits (tfl.gov.uk)
12
The Pedestrian Pound, Living Streets (2018)
13
https://www.sustrans.org.uk/our-blog/get-active/2020/in-your-community/what-is-a-
low-traffic-neighbourhood
14
The Impact of GPS-Enabled Shortest Path Routing on Mobility: A Game Theoretic
Approach (trb.org)
15
Inclusive Design Standards, 2019, LLDC
16
https://www.ciht.org.uk/knowledge-resource-centre/resources/active-travel/
17
https://tcpa.org.uk/collection/the-20-minute-neighbourhood/
18
https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/policy-and-strategy/planning-for-melbourne/plan-
melbourne/20-minute-neighbourhoods
19
A Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment, 2018, HM Government
20
A raft of literature, but see TCPA 20 Minute Neighbourhoods and Gear Change
2020/2021
21
The health benefits of urban green spaces: a review of the evidence - PubMed
(nih.gov)
22
The relationship of physical activity and overweight to objectively measured green
space accessibility and use - PubMed (nih.gov)
23
Mental Health and Town Planning 2020, RTPI
24
Improving Access to Greenspace: A New Review for 2020, Public Health England
25
26
27
Transport decarbonisation plan - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
28
MHAW21-Nature-research-report.pdf (mentalhealth.org.uk)
29
https://hackney.gov.uk/child-friendly-spd
30
Playing out
31
Community Street Design, Sustrans
32
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/manual-for-streets
33
https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/how-we-work/planning-for-the-future/healthy-
streets
34
Essex Design Guide 2018
35
Influence of Pokémon Go on Physical Activity: Study and Implications - PMC (nih.gov)
36
A longitudinal analysis of the influence of the neighborhood built environment on
walking for transportation: the RESIDE study - PubMed (nih.gov)
55
Active Design
January 2023
37
Sport England Asset Transfer Guidance
38
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-champion-approaches-rapid-scoping-
review-of-
evidence#:~:text=Community%20champions%20or%20health%20champions,between%20servic
es%20and%20disadvantaged%20communities
56

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Active Design

Note: Yellow highlights represent sections to be added / infographics / suggested imagery /

What is Active Design?

There are Ten Principles of Active Design:

• A model planning policy for local development plans

• A checklist to assess development proposals against the ten principles

Why Create Active Environments?

Activity statistics INFOGRAPHIC

How to use Active Design

Planners and policy makers can use Active Design to:

• Structure and assist pre-application discussions;

• Make decisions on planning applications and planning obligations;

Designers and developers can use Active Design to:

Other professional groups can use Active Design to:

• Inform dialogue with planning colleagues and elected members;

How Active Design relates to other guidance

What’s new in this edition?

The Policy Framework

Updated Research and Engagement

• New or emerging topics of relevance, such as micro-mobility, digital solutions, expanding

• Post-COVID changes to lifestyles and needs from the built environment

Supporting Complementary Priorities

The Ten Principles

DIAGRAM MAPPING OLD > NEW PRINCIPLES + NDG OVERLAP

Active Design (2015) Active Design (2023) National Design Guide

Active Buildings Active Buildings, Inside and Homes & Buildings

The Ten Principles of Active Design

FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLE 1 – Activity for All

1.2 Meaningful consultation and engagement, as early and as often as possible

• Use of effective consultation techniques, discussion, co-design and evidence gathering is

BOX Voice Opportunity Power (VOP)

THEME 1: Supporting Active Travel

3 – Providing Connected Walking and Cycling Routes

4 – Mixing uses and co-locating facilities

How does this increase activity?

What other benefits are there?

Environment and Climate Change

Principle 2 – Walkable Communities

2.1 Locate facilities, jobs and homes in easy walking distance

• Employment and commercial space should be included within neighbourhoods. Remote or

2.2 Prioritise Active Travel modes over other forms of transport

Include Diagram / infographic of prioritisation hierarchy here

• Existing neighbourhoods should explore options to introduce Liveable Neighbourhoods 13 or

Include Diagram / infographic filtered permeability here

2.4 Utilise residential and employment travel planning

Manual for Streets

CIHT Public Transport in New Developments

Forthcoming: ATE’s Approach to New Developments

Forthcoming: ATE Development Assessment Toolkit

Cycle to work scheme implementation guidance for employers - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Principle 3 – Providing Connected Walking & Cycling Routes

• Pedestrian crossings should be clear and integrated in the interchange design.

Include Diagram / infographic of mobility hub components here

• Indicating distance as well as direction on signage, in time taken, distance measurement

• Detailed guidance on signage is contained within LTN 1/20 chapter 13.

BOX Wayfinding for Healthy Lives, Oxfordshire

Ramblers – A case for Action

Active Travel England: ATE’s Approach to Assessing Planning Applications

Active Travel England: Planning Assessment Toolkit and User Manual