There are currently progressive social developments being made via local authority plans for new cycle routes. We only have to look to Scandinavian cities to see how we can improve transport, social cohesion and heath for our densely populated urban areas. Yet back in the aggressive free market economy of the UK, implementing this is far from easy. One of these planned but largely un-built cycle routes runs along the River Leen in the city of Nottingham. Its visual grammar, typography and structure reveal the stresses placed on a city’s history and aesthetics during the past thirty years of de-industrialisation and rising inequality. But as this visual notebook shows, it doesn’t have to be like this.
