You may not realise it, but streetscapes are a part of our daily lives and their designs play an important role in our city experience.

In fact, streetscape designs affect not only the appearance – but more importantly, the functionality of an urban environment.

For that reason, it’s crucial that streetscapes are designed with careful planning and the expertise of professionals.

 

The 7 important factors to great streetscape design

There are a variety of streetscapes ranging from small to large.

The larger types are often seen in areas such as parkways and highways, where their designs are more focused on vehicles. The smaller types revolve around pedestrian streetscapes.

Here are the most important things to consider when designing a streetscape:

  1. Ease of accessibility – A great design must allow for the ease of navigation and movement to provide access to the desired location.
  2. The separation between vehicles and pedestrians – trees, low vegetation, planters, bollards or other elements provide effective dividers for all users.
  3. Safety – As mentioned above, having separation is crucial to offer shelter. Moreover, crosswalks and parking spaces with visible signs, proper accessible spaces and curbs are big contributors to safety as well.
  4. Space for lounging – There must be seats where people can relax and interact along the street.
  5. Preserve the scenery – People should be able to view buildings, businesses or points of interest from the streets. This is critical for business success, especially in retail areas.
  6. Landscaping – A good streetscape design for pedestrians uses low landscaping at a maximum of 18-24” tall with trees maintained at 6’ or above while keeping the middle area clear. This maintains views and ensures safety.
  7. Distinct design – A unique space can be created with materials, brick paving, signage, lighting, landscape, markings, art pieces or even with trees to provide a sense of originality.

These are just some of the many factors to keep in mind when designing streetscapes. However, this is not easy and requires the assistance of industry experts.

Citygreen aims to turn every grey space into green, one streetscape at a time.

Recently, we worked on The O’Sullivan Road Streetscape Project to build a lush, vibrant and pedestrian-focused streetscape in the heart of the Glen Waverley Activity Centre.

With Citygreen’s Stratavault product, the City of Monash was equipped with the healthiest growing and thriving trees their city has ever seen.

You can read more about how our solutions have helped create human-centred streetscapes for this project here: https://citygreen.com/case-studies/creating-a-healthy-vibrant-human-centered-streetscape-in-the-heart-of-the-glen-waverley-activity-centre/

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The O’Sullivan Road Streetscape Project in the heart of the Glen Waverley Activity Centre, City of Monash, NSW.

Source: http://schneidercorp.com/resources/blog/february-2014/the-7-keys-to-great-streetscape-design/#.X5YZRogzaUm
Image: https://tooledesign.com/