By Laurence Kemball-Cook, Founder and CEO, Pavegen
When Mayor Sadiq Khan approved the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street, it felt like more than a policy decision; it felt like a long-overdue shift in how we think about cities and the role people play within them.
For me, it also carried a quiet sense of recognition, because this is a direction we have been working towards for over a decade. Not just imagining what a more human, responsive street might look like, but actively building and testing it in the real world.
Back in 2017, just a short walk from Oxford Street, we worked with the New West End Company and Transport for London to transform Bird Street from an overlooked side alley into what became known as the world’s first smart street.
Using Pavegen’s kinetic tiles, we turned everyday footsteps into something visible and engaging, powering lighting, triggering soundscapes, and connecting visitors to rewards through their phones.
What stood out was not the technology itself, but how people behaved around it. They slowed down, interacted, and spent time in a space that would previously have been passed through without a second thought. It demonstrated something simple but important: when a street responds to people, people respond in kind.
Oxford Street now presents that same principle at an entirely different scale. As one of the busiest retail destinations in the world, it attracts around half a million visitors each day and contributes significantly to London’s economy, yet footfall has declined over time and the experience has, in many ways, remained static.
The pedestrianisation trial in 2025 offered a glimpse of what could change, with a notable increase in footfall, strong retail performance, and clear public support. This is why the decision to pedestrianise matters. It is not simply about removing vehicles, but about rethinking the purpose of the street itself.
It creates the opportunity to move beyond a model based purely on throughput and towards one that prioritises experience, interaction, and dwell time.
At this scale, the role of infrastructure begins to change. What might once have been considered an installation or a feature becomes something more foundational.
The pavement itself can begin to contribute, not just as a surface to walk on, but as a layer that generates energy, captures data, and creates a more engaging public environment. It becomes part of the city’s operating system, rather than an afterthought.
Every step on a Pavegen tile produces a small amount of energy, but when multiplied across hundreds of thousands of daily visitors, that contribution becomes collective and meaningful.
With the addition of hybrid systems such as Solar+, which combine kinetic and solar energy, that generation can continue throughout the day and into the evening. It is, in essence, energy created by the movement of the city itself - generated by the people who use it.
More importantly, this kind of responsive environment changes how people relate to space.
When the ground beneath you reacts to your presence, whether through light, information, or interaction, the experience becomes participatory rather than passive. People don’t simply move through the space; they engage with it.
That shift, from movement to experience, has implications not just for public enjoyment, but for retail, tourism, and the wider urban economy. It is the difference between a street people pass through and one they choose to spend time in.
What we have learned over the past fifteen years is that human movement is an underutilised resource in cities, not only in terms of energy, but in its ability to create connection and engagement.
Today, Pavegen represents more than a single technology. It is a platform that brings together energy generation, real-time data, and public interaction, all embedded within the fabric of the street itself.
For cities, this creates a live layer of insight. For retailers and brands, it opens up new ways to understand and engage audiences. And for the public, it turns everyday movement into something visible, shared, and meaningful.
The Opportunity Ahead
Pedestrianisation makes all of this possible.
The question is no longer whether cities can evolve in this direction, but how far they are willing to go in embracing it.
We built the world’s first smart street just next to Oxford Street. The opportunity now is to help shape what comes next, on one of the most recognised streets in the world.
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For more information about how Pavegen kinetic technology is helping pave the wave for a more sustainable future, contact press@pavegen.com.
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About Pavegen
Pavegen is a purpose-driven technology business that helps power change and generates positive outcomes for people and planet. Laying underfoot inside buildings, public spaces and at events, Pavegen Kinetic Paving harnesses the power of people’s footsteps, creating not only a small amount of energy – but also imaginative, interactive experiences and data, to help educate, engage and enable meaningful actions around sustainability and Net Zero intent. Pavegen calls this Citizen Impact; powered by Pavegen.
Pavegen helps power Kinetic Street Furniture applications such as USB charging, LED lights, and Green Wall irrigation systems, whilst data from the system can be used for public educational purposes on digital display screens. Kinetic Brand Experiences at live events, expos, festivals and public spaces produce data to provide gamified experiences that help brands engage meaningfully with consumers.
The company was founded in 2009 by Laurence Kemball-Cook who invented the Kinetic Paving technology that can now be seen in over 37 countries around the world.