Robert Huxford , Director, Urban Design Group
Robert Huxford is director of the Urban Design Group, an international membership charity for people concerned about improving the design of cities, towns and villages. He is co-founder of PRIAN, the Public Realm Information and Advice Network, and a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers Municipal Expert Panel.
He has been involved in a number of initiatives on the design and management of towns and cities, covering subjects such as transportation, science and evidence-based design, road safety, streets, public realm, highway law and urban watercourses. He is currently trying to persuade anyone who will listen of the importance of reforming the way we manage and design the spaces under our streets to provide room for trees, waste collection systems, district heating, SuDS, rainwater recycling, and safety for workers who are exposed to substantial danger from accidentally striking electricity and gas mains.
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Cycling is the most efficient and, per mile, the least environmentally damaging mode of land-based transport ever devised. It is also the one means where people can get a workout without having to spend a fortune on gym membership. A century of vehicle-dominated highway design moved walking and cycling to the margins. It is time it they took centre stage. With lifestyle linked conditions including obesity, diabetes, diabetic retinopathy, cancer and heart disease threatening to overwhelm the NHS; and with the majority of people trapped into inactive lifestyles by streets that they consider are too dangerous for cycling, the 
Healthy Streets Awards are vital in encouraging and recognising those professionals and local authorities who are prepared to take a lead, and showing the rest the path they need to follow
