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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · 11d

Easily done with a Kendal Mint Cake, a little bit of fondant and a sharp knife

Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · 12d

…as well as the introduction of 60mm kerbs where there would have been an undeliniated level surface here. AND the increase in spacing between the security bollards from 1.1 to 1.4m to better accommodate wider mobility aids, in particular adapted cycles

Photo of a cycle only street with 60mm high kerbs between footway and cycle track and a bollards blocking access for motor vehicles with a gap of 1.4m between them

Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · 12d

The three key changes they highlighted, which they wouldn’t have done if they hadn’t been using the tool, were the full tactile delineation of this level surface (necessary because of the Lord Mayor’s Show) with Blister and Corduroy paving

Photos of an part of a street where the road and pavement are at the same height. There is a controlled crossing point marked with blister paving and the areas adjacent to it which are level but not crossing points have corduroy paving between the pavement and road.

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · 12d

The second (and final) of these free training sessions on our street accessibility tool is tomorrow. The first went really well and it was great to hear from City of London officers how its use changed aspects of Bank Junction. Details in the thread if you want to come along👇

Photo of six people standing on a pavement with the royal exchange, mansion house and bank tube station visible in the background. Where they are standing the footway and carriageway are level but there is 800mm deep paving delineating the boundary.

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · 14d

Does this imply discovery of a Spoonman and a Rhinosaur are imminent?

Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · 16d

Super cool pic of @blondehistorian.bsky.social on the header! 😎

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · 16d

This street accessibility training is tomorrow but there are still a few places if you want to come. Also the tool is now at its permanent home on the @transportforall.org.uk website: www.transportforall.org.uk/tess/

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · 18d

We’re running free training in how to use our new improved street accessibility tool at the Guildhall in London this Friday and next Tuesday. It’ll include a case study on how it was used at Bank Junction. Open to anyone who works in street design. More details in the thread.👇

Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · 24d

I made a new thing 🧵 Working with @transportforall.org.uk we have built an even better spreadsheet for analysing streets (actual or being designed) and showing their likely accessibility for different disabled people. It’s free to download and use www.rossatkin.com/wp/?portfoli...

Tool for Equitable StreetScapes (TESS) – Ross Atkin Associates

www.rossatkin.com

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · 24d

If you work in street design and want to learn more about TESS, and what CoL officers changed about the redesign of Bank Junction thanks to its predecessor CoLSAT, we’re running two sessions at the Guildhall on Sep 26th and 30th. Email [email protected] if you’d like to come along

Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · 24d

It’s built on top of the City of London Street Accessibility Tool (CoLSAT - which has been in use by CoL and others since 2021) and uses all the data and insight we gathered for that, but we’ve done 64 more interviews and added more features to better represent streets outside CoL.

Image of a spreadsheet. A column on the left hand side lists 56 street features such as type of crossing and various parameters about tactile paving, kerbs, inclines and street furniture. A row at the top shows icons representing 13 different needs segments covering types of impairment and mobility aid. The areas where columns and rows intersect have numbers between 0 and 4 and are colour-coded with the ones showing 4 being green, those showing 3 being white and those showing 2, 1 and 0 in progressively darker shades of orange.

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · 24d

I made a new thing 🧵 Working with @transportforall.org.uk we have built an even better spreadsheet for analysing streets (actual or being designed) and showing their likely accessibility for different disabled people. It’s free to download and use www.rossatkin.com/wp/?portfoli...

Tool for Equitable StreetScapes (TESS) – Ross Atkin Associates

www.rossatkin.com

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · Aug 11

Schnaps! Actually maybe not worth risking arrest and sight loss.

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · Jul 17

😢

Photo of a very grand Victorian or Edwardian building with ‘Free Library’ written in stone relief in a lovely organic font above the door. The door itself is obscured by an enormous and unruly bush which is occupying the whole of what was once the route from street to door. In front of the bush are some haphazardly arranged orange plastic barriers. The barriers are the rubbish injection-moulded kind (not the nicer blow-moulded ones)

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · Jun 20

@genmon.fyi loved reading your last update on the Poem/1 and really excited about hearing about your trip to Shenzhen… please please please do a video! Here’s mine from 2018 youtu.be/u4_Vf_uyrtM?...

Making Smartibots in Shenzhen Part1

YouTube video by Crafty Robot

youtu.be

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · Jun 5

Making tactile models of various street design features @johnstreetdales.bsky.social, a collage of his and I found around the UK to use in interviews with disabled people. Here’s all the mini tactile paving!

Isometric view of 3D printed miniature pieces of tactile paving mostly in buff yellow, grey and red

Top down view of 3D printed miniature pieces of tactile paving mostly in buff yellow, grey and red

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · Jun 2

I may be misremembering this but I think about 8 to 10 years ago someone in TV told me an hour of UK made TV drama costs £5million.

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · Apr 16

Not mine but works on a similar principle and I agree much better than the steel A-frames. Looking at the size of the bases on those I’d be surprised if they pass the wind test with those sign faces attached.

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · Mar 18

Bad design of public infrastructure imposes costs on individual disabled people which the government needs (and usually fails to fully) compensate them for with PIP. Improving that infrastructure reduces costs for disabled people but also benefits the whole of society.

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · Mar 18

The best way to reduce PIP (Personal Independence Payments) to disabled people would be to make personal independence easier by improving transport accessibility:
🏘️ improving the accessibility of our streets
🚉 Sorting out level boarding on trains
🚌 Improving bus accessibility, frequency and speeds

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · Mar 7

Have you tried turning the cover inside out, putting your arms inside, pushing your hands into the far corners, grabbing the corresponding corners of the duvet and then uninverting the whole thing with a single big flourish? It ends up quite planar when it works right.

Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · Mar 7

My dad had these in the fridge at all times between about 1995 and 2020

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · Jan 25

I’m offended and our 6yo and 4yo would be offended if I told them you’d said that (which I won’t

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · Jan 25

@garius.bsky.social The 4yo and I made a little knight out of Fimo and he came out looking remarkably like you

Photo of a small figure of a knight made out of polymer clay. He is bald with a round face, a moustache and a goatee beard.

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · Jan 25

You’re may be right about that. This will force people on housing benefit out of certain areas. Rent controls will force the people who are just well off enough not to qualify for housing benefit out of the same areas and might also reduce supply to the point where housing benefit needs to increase.

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Ross Atkin @rossatkin.bsky.social · Jan 25

I’m not arguing that the current situation is OK. It’s the same as in many other areas (eg health, social care, transport, energy) where government ends up spending loads more on operating expenses because they won’t invest.

But rent controls aren’t the solution. Look at what’s happened in Dublin.

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