Dr. Sarah Rock:

Yes, perfect. It froze at just the right moment. If we were to add what additional ingredients could help other agencies successfully replicate this elsewhere in the future, it would be the following. First, we would add integrated funding. Funding streams can be quite narrow in their focus, whereas good urban regeneration is always multifaceted. One way to do this might be to allow a percentage of spend on a project to be non-traditional and more flexible. For example, we could allow for street trees, seating and small play areas as part of an active travel fund, thus encouraging both place and movement functions to be addressed. Another example would be to ensure research and evaluation is an integral component of significant schemes so we can always learn from them.

Recruitment is also important. This would mean a public appointments process that recognises the value of interdisciplinarity. Those who are recruited into the public sector to work on projects that impact on the vitality of our towns, villages and cities must come from a range of skill sets and backgrounds. More flexibility is needed in recruitment, at both a local and national level, to attract specialist, diverse and interdisciplinary appointments, including urban designers and public engagement, health and community specialists.

On transport demand management, the recently published Five Cities Demand Management research report recommended a broad and integrated range of traffic demand management measures which, if implemented, can greatly enhance the mobility and liveability of our urban centres. These include, for example, 15-minute neighbourhoods, parking and traffic management and low emission zones. Experience elsewhere shows us that this can enhance local economies while creating people-friendly places and increasing health and accessibility.

Walking, for example, is one of our most neglected, yet highly effective, forms of transport. In September 2022, Technological University, TU, Dublin, together with Rialtas na hÉireann and the Walk21 Foundation, will host the 22nd International Walk21 Conference on Walking and Liveable Communities. This conference will bring together a global community of academics and practitioners to explore how supporting and encouraging walking and walkable communities can help deliver sustainable development goal commitments by 2030. We are grateful for support, in the spirit of multidisciplinarity, from several Government Departments for this.

The current system, whether it is funding, recruitment, design or implementation, is generally not set up to react quickly enough to deal with the large scale and transformative changes that are required over the next five years and beyond. However, we learned over the past two years that when it is needed, we can do things differently and change is certainly possible.