Street design and placemaking

Professionals working in design and management must make a combined effort to produce the best possible streets. We need to build the knowledge and confidence of professionals to deliver streets and spaces that put people first.

We need to build the knowledge and confidence of professionals to deliver the best possible streets and spaces that put people first.

The street design and placemaking masterclasses were developed to support senior public sector managers by:

• highlighting the links between design quality, funding and performance
• outlining how street design and placemaking can help organisations deliver on the new national performance framework
• focusing on the delivery of quality through integrated teams (as set out in Manual for streets)
• exploring the role of key processes and tools in delivering quality under pressure (such as Building for Life).

Understanding the power of streets

Sue McGlynn, an urban designer with experience in practice, teaching, research and consultancy, outlines power, influence and decision-making in the urban design process. Sue also summarises the spatial attributes of quality streets, the 2D and 3D elements of place.

Manual for streets – what’s in it for me?

Andy Cameron, technical director at WSP Group and co-author of Manual for streets outlines its broad principles – what’s new, what’s different.

Case sheets

The case sheets review schemes that exemplify the delivery of the principles outlined in Manual for streets:

• Gun Wharf, Plymouth
  Gun Wharf illustrates the potential for creating distinctive and valuable public space within a steeply sloping, constrained, small site, using simple materials and minimal highways interventions. The challenge was to create a sense of place in an otherwise bleak urban landscape.
• Houndwood, Somerset
  Houndwood’s development and design process were strongly landscape-driven, with a particular emphasis on the creation of a distinctive series of places integrated with the streetscape. A low-speed street network was achieved through tight dimensions and avoidance of conventional highway elements.
• Prince of Wales, Norwich
  Through strong project management skills of a multi-disciplinary team, the Prince of Wales Road improvement scheme improved road safety by developing an inclusive, high-quality design that respected the public realm and commercial functions of the street.
• Upton, Northampton, Site A
  The initial phase of Upton, Northampton, demonstrates how a high-quality public realm design can be achieved by volume housebuilders through the adherence to the principles of a code and careful monitoring of the implementation.
• Millennium Village, South Lynn
  Once a derelict brownfield site, South Lynn Millennium Village now forms an important part of the larger Nar Ouse Regeneration Area (NORA) project in King’s Lynn. The scheme successfully integrates urban and street design by co-ordinating the layout and building principles with the street design principles from the outset.

Posters

A series of posters are available to download or order for free – email mshepherd@cabe.org.uk