We've created self-watering green roadblocks to help with emergency transport plans to aid social distancing and create car-free spaces.
As lockdown eases, councils are working to adapt our streets to provide more room for walking and cycling, and keep cyclists and pedestrians safe. We’ve adapted standard concrete blocks into planters, adding special reservoirs that trap and store rainwater, so plants stay watered for up to six-weeks without rainfall. These can be used to block roads to motor vehicles, while letting bikes and pedestrians through.
Many of the changes needed today to keep our cities moving and our streets safe in response to the covid crisis are the same changes we already needed to tackle the climate crisis, so the hope is that many of these temporary measures could become permanent once the pandemic has passed. But for people to want that, we have to make sure that emergency measures are implemented in the most appealing way possible, and that means more than rolling out a mix-and-match of plastic and concrete barriers.
Wooden planters are one of the best ways to manage traffic, but although they are very low cost to install, they can come with a hefty and potentially off-putting maintenance bill for cash-strapped councils. They can also be vulnerable to drivers of larger vehicles frustrated at having their passage barred. Our Concrete Jungle blocks combine the best of both approaches - cheap to make and maintain, yet still bursting with life - and impossible to push aside, even with an SUV.
