Making a case for investment in the public realm

Abstract

High-quality urban realm generates benefits to pedestrians in terms of improved walking experience and contributes to the socio-economic vitality of streets and neighbourhoods. However, it is very difficult to value and quantify those benefits. Historically, transport appraisal guidance has only allowed for the quantification of safety and time-saving benefits to pedestrians, which represent a small portion of benefits arising from public realm schemes. There are two main approaches to valuing the benefits to be gained from improved urban realm: the bottom-up approach of valuing benefits to individuals through stated preference (SP) and a top-to-bottom approach using revealed preference (RP). A method for quantifying user benefits using SP surveys has been developed. SP, however, only represents a partial valuation of benefits (not accounting for wider socio-economic benefits) and the values derived from SP surveys are subject to uncertainty. An alternative approach, using RP, measured the impact of public realm quality on market prices (retail rents and residential property prices). Although the results from this work showed a link between the quality of public realm and market prices, more research is needed to assess and value the benefits of public realm schemes.