Their implication may be that these destinations are currently not linked well for pedestrians, and pedestrianisation is required to contribute more to the linkage.
"What we do know is that if you design higher densities and a mixture of uses, linked to a commitment to enable pedestrianisation, then passive surveillance tend to reduce crime and create safer atmospheres".
Cadot warned the pedestrianisation would have to be reversed if the closure caused traffic chaos.
"If the west end shops' association don't agree to pedestrianisation," Wolmar says, "they are turkeys voting for Christmas".
Pedestrianisation certainly appears to be good for business: when Oxford Street experimented with pedestrian-only VIP days in recent years, footfall doubled.
Mike Tuffrey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats on the London assembly, accused the mayor of failing to "walk the walk" on improve public spaces, pointing to Johnson's decision to scrap a pedestrianisation scheme for Parliament Square.
In a Huffington Post article at the end of August entitled "Yes to the pedestrianisation of the riverbanks", a high-profile group of ecologists, including former government ministers, MEP José Bové and photographer Yann Aregrettedthend, regretted the "aggressive" tone of the debate, "… as is often the case when it concerns cars.
The vehicle will work parallel to the final stages of the pedestrianisation of St Mary Street and High Street (due to finish this summer), as well as developing of the shopmobility service around St David's 2 which will expand to include evenings and weekends.
Farrington stressed that the pedestrianisation of Eastgate was key to developers Hammerson, which will submit its revised proposals 'soon'soon
Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, who leads the opposition LR group at city hall, declared it was considering legal moves to stop the pedestrianisation project.
