RESOLVE’s partner Transport for Greater Manchester is testing a new approach to reduce carbon emissions and air pollution as a result of the interregional exchange of good practices.
Transport for Greater Manchester has recently installed an innovative parklet in Stockport town center by converting some parking spaces in the city center into inviting public spaces where people can stop, rest and socialize. The parklet is composed of some on-street features, such as cycling-parking, seating and greenery, and also a pocket park with plants, art wall and table tennis table.
The idea of the parklet was imported from the good practice “Vlonderterras” (parklet) from the Netherlands, where every summer several parking spaces in the city centers are transformed in terraces for restaurants, bars and café’s: a practical solution to improve the liveability of city center while at the same time supporting local retail and carbon reduction.
The parklet will be monitored for a period of three months to evaluate the impact on the quality of life, people’s attraction, reduction of air pollution, sustainable mobility and many other expected results. At the end of the three-month observation, Transport for Greater Manchester will release a workplan to identify the key points of such a pilot action.
Transport for Greater Manchester will not be the only RESOLVE project partner involved in the experimentation. Other partners will set up observation programmes and study visits to analyse, monitor and give feedbacks to the test-partner.
In this sense, project partners are considering to organize a workshop in Manchester in the first months of 2020 to present the parklet, the methodology and exchange experiences on the topic. The workshop will be addressed to RESOLVE project partners as well as to other projects related to the same thematic field. Dates and location of the event will be published soon on our website.
