Smartmoves is organised by TfL as an annual conference and get together of people working for those areas. There were excellent speakers, Question & Answer sessions and workshops.
I was able to ask Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor's Director for Transport Policy, whether cars were meant to shrink as a result of 1.5 metre lanes being painted in a normal road lane wide enough a car or van but no more than that (as shown in plans for Cycling Superhighway 7, which goes through Kennington. He replied that car shrinkage would be the ideal outcome but in reality this is a trial and we need to see what happens. I think we can be sure this won't measure up to Dutch standards then.
There was an excellent presentation on the need to have fun, easy and popular things to achieve behavioural change. This video gives the idea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw
The rides in Kennnington I'm organising are about having fun and this workshop helped me to improve the description I'm writing.
I also suggested that it was neither fun nor easy to cycle across central London bridges, with their fantastic views, and that this is something TfL could effect change on. There was a promise to follow that up - if we could get a result it would be great for Kennington residents.
Finally, it was a pleasure to meet and chat with Eric Duval and Suzy Harrison who work on sustainable travel for Lambeth. Also, a chance to talk to Holly Bruford from London Sustrans about the project.
