But we could instead create a place that's better for business and is beautiful too. It would attract customers while being good for our physical, mental and social health.

Below we'll discuss four reasons to reallocate parking space next to shops.

But first, we've re-imagined Beaumont and Darby streets to illustrate the benefits of reallocating space to people ... to shoppers, diners, riders, children, prams and the mobility-impaired.

Typically a car transports just one or two customers.

A parked car occupies about 13 square metres. That's about the size of an elephant lying down.

Before re-imagining the streets, we calculated that car parking (27%) and travel lanes (46%) took up nearly three-quarters of the street space.

Reducing car parking and travel lanes allowed us to increase green space (up 18%), seating (up 17%) and footpaths (up 6%) in our re-imagined streets.

Research highlights what works to create people-friendly local shopping streets.

Creating beautiful and healthy shopping streets that provide safe and equitable access is key to attracting more business.

This includes safer speeds, improving lighting, replacing parking with "parklets", planting street trees and widening pavements - these are just some of the ways.

1: Local businesses benefit

It's important to remember: cars don't buy things from shops, people do. Shopping streets that prioritise people and beauty over cars will attract higher sales, higher retail rental values and reduced shop vacancy rates. But where will shoppers park? Shoppers are already used to walking short distances from parking on side streets and in off-street car parks.

2. More attractive for alfresco dining

We now know that COVID-19 is airborne - meaning we can inhale the virus. Improving ventilation is key to reducing the spread, but this can be a challenge indoors. The evidence suggests gathering outdoors is safer than indoors.

Almost half of Australians have a family dog, so being able to have a coffee outside opens up further business benefits of outdoor dining space.

Trialling more people-friendly streets can be a great way to demonstrate their benefits, such as those planned for Darby Street - through the government-funded Streets as Shared Spaces program.

3: For kids and families

Great streets are enjoyable and safe places for kids and their families. Streets like this make it easier to get active and have fun.

We should listen to kids' ideas when it comes to building healthy streets - they want their local streets to be active and fun places to meet their friends.

Shopping streets should make everyone feel welcome. By this we mean streets that:

4: Boost our physical activity and mental health

More than half of city car journeys are shorter than 5km - and many are even shorter. Ongoing under-investment in safe walking and cycling means Australians feel forced into driving short distances, even though they might prefer to walk or cycle.

Increasing walking is a cost-effective investment to boost Australia's physical activity levels. It would reduce the one in ten deaths and A$15.6 billion-a-year burden of inactivity.

Riding or walking to the shops can be a relaxing and enjoyable experience, and shopping streets can be destinations that people enjoy walking around, staying a while and spending more.

When Australians have better access to local destinations, they walk more. More people on the streets builds a sense of community, essential for optimal mental health.

For local shopping streets to compete with larger shopping centres like Charlestown and Kotara, they need to be more beautiful places to visit, which provide safe and inclusive access for people to spend money locally. Towns and cities around the world, and Australia, are realising this. Tens of thousands of on-street car parking spaces are being reallocated to people, including in Auckland, Stockholm, Paris, Amsterdam, Milan. Let's do it in Newcastle too!

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