Traffic logic, state strategies and free speech in an urban park: The Park Lane Road Improvement Scheme, London, 1955–1962

Abstract

‘Traffic logic’ draws attention to how civil rights in public space, such as free speech, are often compromised by officials in favour of expanding bureaucratic traffic codes, designs and plans. However, internal disputes among state departments about nascent traffic logic schemes will sometimes be strategically employed by social movements to campaign for civil liberties and rights in public space. This article explores these issues through the example of the Park Lane Road Improvement Scheme in London, which was completed in 1962. The road scheme's purpose was to build new roundabouts at Hyde Park Corner and Marble Arch and convert a strip of land within Hyde Park and Park Lane into a dual carriageway. But this area in Hyde Park was also home to the famous place for free speech, Speakers' Corner. By looking in detail at discussions and disagreements about the road scheme within state departments and their partners, the paper shows how civil liberties campaigners and Speakers' Corner regulars used the strategic terrain carved out by these discussions to campaign for existing and new free speech entitlements and rights at Hyde Park.