Improving Street Design Through 'Link and Place'

Improving Street Design Through ‘Link and Place’

Peter Jones Centre for Transport Studies, UCL, London

West Midlands Urban Design Forum, 2nd October 2015

LINK street as a movement conduit

PLACE street as a destination in its own right

PRINCIPLES: Dual functions of streets

LINK street as a movement conduit

PLACE street as a destination in its own right

Design objective: save time

Design objective: spend time

PRINCIPLES: Dual functions of streets

Through movement:

• Private cars, vans, goods vehicles

• Public transport

• Cycles

• Pedestrians

Use of a street as a ‘Link’

People movement

• People standing, sitting, sightseeing, shopping, trading

• Public performances, parades, demonstrations, etc.

Certain vehicle-related activities:

• Parking (including cycle parking)

• Loading / servicing

Use of a street as a ‘Place’

Place status

Link

sta

tus

High Low

Hig

hLo

w

Each cell represents a particular type of street with a specific combination of a Link and Place status level

The Link/Place matrix

Neighbourhood

Local

District

City

National

Loca

l

Nei

ghbo

urho

od

Dis

trict

City

Nat

iona

l

I-E

II-E

III-E

V-A

IV-E

V-B V-C V-D V-E

Place status levels

Link

sta

tus

leve

ls

I-A

II-A

I-B I-C

II-B

I-D

II-C II-D

IV-A

III-B III-C III-D

IV-B IV-C IV-D

III-A

Street types in a ‘5 x 5’ Matrix

Application to Greater London by TfL

Roads Task Force (RTF) - Key messages

¾ London’s roads need to be looked at as a whole, in a consistent manner, not just in terms of moving traffic around London

¾ Their functions have changed over time, and this needs to be looked at afresh

¾ In particular, we should think of our road/street network ‘two dimensionally’:

� Place:

� Street activities

� Supporting adjoining frontages

� Movement:

� General road traffic - cars, vans, etc.

� Sustainable travel modes – buses, walking, cycling

Street Types: the intended outcome

¾ A common set of nine ‘street family types’, but with flexibility for boroughs to use a finer level of classification, to meet local needs

¾ Within this general classification, there will be variation within a street type in terms of:

� Modal priorities

� Land use dominance

¾ This will ultimately provide a functional understanding of the role of different streets in London, and the kinds of interventions required to improve the role they play for Boroughs & Greater London

Street Type Functions matrix

Street Types: process and outputs (7/x) Outputs: a set of jointly owned planning tools

� Workshops create a map which can be used locally or combined for a pan-London perspective

� For use by Borough officers, TfL planners, consultants, and designers

‘Function’ vs. ‘Form’ vs. ‘Performance’

¾ Movement and Place describe the functions that each street is intended to perform

¾ The form of the street describes its current layout, management and

appearance ¾ The performance of the street describes how well it is achieving its

various functions, given its current form

SO, ‘improvement’ will mainly involve changing form to better meet functional requirements and so improve performance, rather than changing the street functions – i.e. uplifting quality rather than switching street types

Application to Street Design

Different design solutions

• Two urban streets

• Same width • Different Link/Place status

• Different designs

I-E

II-E

III-E

V-A

IV-E

V-B V-C V-D V-E

I-A

II-A

I-B I-C

II-B

I-D

II-C II-D

IV-A

III-C III-D

IV-B IV-C IV-D

III-A III-B

I-E

II-E

III-E

V-A

IV-E

V-B V-C V-D V-E

I-A

II-A

I-B I-C

II-B

I-D

II-C

IV-A

III-B III-C III-D

IV-B IV-C IV-D

III-A

II-D

Neighbourhood

Local

District

City

National

Loca

l

Nei

ghbo

urho

od

Dis

trict

City

Nat

iona

l I-E

II-E

III-E

V-A

IV-E

V-B V-C V-D V-E

Place status levels Li

nk s

tatu

s le

vels

I-A

II-A

I-B I-C

II-B

I-D

II-C II-D

IV-A

III-B III-C III-D

IV-B IV-C IV-D

III-A

Potential ‘20mph Zone’ cells

20 MPH ZONES

Basic Criteria

• Each street activity requires a certain amount of SPACE and TIME

• Some activities may also require – or benefit from – ‘street design elements’: – Reserved space/time on the street (e.g. bus

lane) – Street furniture (e.g. seating)

• Potential range of provision, from Minimum to Desirable

• ‘Link’ and ‘Place’ can assist in decisions about how to allocate ‘discretionary’ space/capacity

Example: Place users

Place Street User Group

Street Activities

Infrastructure Requirements

Car users Motorcyclists Cyclists

Parking vehicle Parking space Adequate lighting

Van/truck user Loading/unloading Loading provision Adequate lighting

Bus operators Loading/unloading passengers Protected kerbside stopping Easy access for mobility restricted passengers Adequate lighting

Bus passengers Waiting for bus Shelter and seating Lighting and security Service information

Pedestrian (strollers’) Window shopping Queuing for services Chatting to friends Waiting for friends Resting Comfort break

Adequate lighting Space to carry out the activities Weather protection Seating Public toilets

‘Desirable’ and ‘Minimum’ provision

CYCLE LANE

Minimum Recom’nd Maximum

Mandatory, with flow

1.2m 1.5m 2.0m

Advisory, with flow

0.8m 1.2m 1.5m

Mandatory contra-flow

1.5m 2.0m 2.5m

‘Footprints’ of some street furniture

Size of Furniture (width x length)

Total Footprint

Cycle stand 0.10m x 0.60 m 0.60m x 1.30m

Bench 0.48m x 1.06m 1.18m x 1.18m

Rubbish bin 0.50m x 0.50m 1.20m x 1.50m

Bus stop area 1.30m x 3.25m 2.40m x 3.90m

Source: Rachel Palfreeman, MSc Dissertation, 2008

Link Place Carriageway Running lanes for

through traffic Pedestrian crossings

Parking and loading bays

Footway Pedestrian/cycle movement zones Traffic direction/ information and regulatory signs

Street furniture and social space

Mapping activities onto spaces

The ‘trade-off’ triangle

Link

spac

e ca

paci

ty

Total street width

ENVELOPE OF OPTIONS

Place space capacity

A

B

Link

spac

e ca

paci

ty

Total street width

ENVELOPE OF OPTIONS


A

B

Total street width

ENVELOPE OF OPTIONS


A

B

Total street width = 15m


Link

spac

e ca

paci

ty

[5m,10m]Total = 15m

Link = 10m

Link = 5m

Place = 5m Place = 10m

[10m,5m]Total = 15m

Total street width = 15m


Link

spac

e ca

paci

ty

[5m,10m]Total = 15m

Link = 10m

Link = 5m

Place = 5m Place = 10m

[10m,5m]Total = 15m

In simple terms…

Potential design situations

Pdes PdesLdes Pmin PminLmin

Pmin Pmin

Lmin

Pdes Pdes

Ldes

Lmin

Pmin Pmin

Place

Link

Ldes

Pdes

Envelope

of options

Place

Link

Lmin

Pmin

Envelope

of options

Place

Link

Lmin

Ldes

PdesPmin

Envelope

of options

Place

Link

Lmin

Pmin

Envelope

of options

No possible options to meet all minimum needs

Available space between desirable and minimum levelsAvailable space

just meets minimum needs

Available space exceeds aggregated desirable needs


Pmin Pmin

Lmin

Pdes Pdes

Ldes

Lmin

Pmin Pmin

Place

Link

Ldes

Pdes

Envelope

of options

Place

Link

Lmin

Pmin

Envelope

of options

Place

Link

Lmin

Ldes

PdesPmin

Envelope

of options

Place

Link

Lmin

Pmin

Envelope

of options





Allocating ‘discretionary’ space


Pmin Pmin

Lmin

Pdes Pdes

Ldes

Lmin

Pmin Pmin

Place

Link

Ldes

Pdes

Envelope

of options

Place

Link

Lmin

Pmin

Envelope

of options

Place

Link

Lmin

Ldes

PdesPmin

Envelope

of options

Place

Link

Lmin

Pmin

Envelope

of options






Pmin Pmin

Lmin

Pdes Pdes

Ldes

Lmin

Pmin Pmin

Place

Link

Ldes

Pdes

Envelope

of options

Place

Link

Lmin

Pmin

Envelope

of options

Place

Link

Lmin

Ldes

PdesPmin

Envelope

of options

Place

Link

Lmin

Pmin

Envelope

of options





Position of the street segment in the Link/Place matrix determines relative space to allocate to Link and Place requirements

Link

sta

tus

Place status

Case study: Context-sensitive design

Freiburg, Germany

• Population = 210,000

• Disruption from trams from congestion

• Poor accessibility at tram stops

• Poor pedestrian environment

• High traffic volumes

• High traffic speed

Two design sections: • Same Link status

• Place status higher in the second design section

Applying the principles – section 1

• Central carriageway portion to be converted to a dedicated tramway

• Cycle lanes added

• Segregated tram, cycle and traffic provision

• Higher Place status, district shopping centre

• The design offers greater street provision to pedestrians, cyclists and street scene improvements

• Tram not specially segregated, but shares the carriageway with general traffic (separation in time through traffic signals only)

Applying the principles – section 2

Different balance along a route

Link status is the same

Place status is higher on design section 2

Relative Link status to Place status is lower on design section 2

Engaging the Public in Street Design

• Link and Place provides a good, intuitive framework for involving local groups in street design – particularly where have different views

• Has been trialled using a combination of physical (‘blocks’) and electronic (‘bytes’) techniques

• Minimum requirements defined; scale blocks make design constraints clear

• Example: Bloxwich High Street, Walsall

Role in engagement

Public engagement process

• Workshop 1 – Describes the background to and reasons for

the exercise – Allows groups of stakeholders to use the

Blocks to propose their own solutions. • Workshop 2

– Stakeholders are shown their own plans, along with the planners solution, in LineMap.

– The aspects of each plan can be discussed on screen, and combined into a new plan.

Design considerations national highwaycity

boulevard

district high street

local streets

Place status

Link

sta

tus

LINK Function:

38

4

1213

Minimum spaces

Crossings

Bus Stops

Disabled Bays

Loading Bays

Parking Bays

38

4

1213

Minimum spaces

Crossings

Bus Stops

Disabled Bays

Loading Bays

Parking Bays

PLACE: Function:

Street design elements

1:250

• Use of colour to denote different types of space usage

• Some of these based on current street colour categories, e.g. blue denotes disabled parking (blue badge)

• Size is based on size of space actually needed to fit facility in

Feature Colour Vehicle Lane Grey Bus Lane Red Cycle Lane Green General Parking Yellow Disabled Parking Blue Loading Brown Bus Stop Orange Traffic Island Cyan Signal Crossing/ Zebra Approach

Magenta

60mm

Example of loading bay block

1:250

Complete Tool Kit

Inputs to Workshop Two

Both maps were displayed on

the walls outside

Maps were also placed on tables so

participants could get a more

detailed look

Converting blocks to road markings

The display includes the full plan, information about red routes and a description of the planning process.

A role for different professionals

Traffic

engineers .

Urban

designers

Link Place

Planning D

esign

Transport planners

Urban

planners

Improving Street Design Through 'Link and Place'

Environment

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