Car Free Visions of four major cities in the UK

In Autumn 2022, Possible talked to people who live close to Chelsea Road in Easton about what they would want to see change on the street. After holding three workshops with 8 residents to shape the vision, and interviewing experts, we went on to envision Chelsea Road in Easton free from car dependency.

Chelsea Road is a two-way street with a combination of homes and businesses. Cars have parked either side and often on pavements. This makes it hard to see the road from the pavement and means there are few passing places for road users. Outside of rush hours, some car users speed along above the 20mph speed limit, and during busy periods there is a lot of congestion and some conflict between vehicle users of all types. On bin day in particular, many of the pavements are not easily usable, causing people to walk or wheel in the road and adding to the hostility to walkers, wheelers and cyclists. The organization Fare City, produced a report outlining conclusions from expert interviews which informed the workshops with residents, and the final visions. To help support attendees of the event Brompton provided codes so they could trial their cycle hire for free.

We unveiled both of these visions to the public with residents, the wider public, campaigners and local councillors all present to show them what the future could look like, discuss how we could get there, and the impacts such changes would have on people’s lives and on the climate. We are calling on local authorities and the public to use these visions so they can be bolder in reimagining the future of their cities and take action to address car dominance.