March 17, 2025 - In a departure from typical British urbanism, planners of Waterbeach, a 716-acre lakeside development on reclaimed wetlands, designed the new housing complex with a “cycle-first” approach to support car-free living reports Bloomberg.
The town has ample protected bike lanes threading through its housing complexes and bike sheds flanking entrances to homes – and residential streets limit car access. The new development aims to provide a different urban planning template.
Waterbeach arrives as the UK is trying to ease its housing shortage with a network of new towns, which could ultimately contain 1.5 million homes. New residential developments that deprioritize automobile ownership are spreading in the US as well, aligning with global efforts to reduce transportation-related carbon emissions.
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