Providing a sustainable street network

The connections between key places and the quality of the route’s design can support better bus connections and safer provision for cyclists to encourage a shift to modes of transport other than the private car.

Sheffield's public realm and green infrastructure network is integrated within a wider masterplan for the whole city centre. Photo by David Millington

Considering the strategic network of streets and routes at a sub-regional scale can support sustainable transport choices.

At a city scale the hierarchy of street and their dual roles as linkages for transport modes as well as places in their own right needs to be clearly understood and defined. Streets should no longer solely be classified on the basis of traffic volume need, classification should be informed by the range of roles the street performs – as a link and a place. The nature of urban form and type varies across the city from centre to edge and street types may need to reflect this.

Factors to consider at the city scale include:

• the linking of public space networks - from civic square to shopping precinct, from station to town centre, from home zone to high street - will provide more co-ordinated and better quality local walking and cycling environments and so reduce the need to travel by car
• city centre streets and interchanges have greater footfall and higher density occupancy. They therefore require robust design and management to avoid the need for regular replacement of materials and features and should be allocated greater construction and management resources to reflect their key role in place making.
• streets should be categorised for management as ‘link’ and ‘place’ and according to where they sit in the urban transect – central area, suburban or outer urban. Department for Transport’s Manual for Streets provides guidance on street functions and Transport for London’s Streetscape design guide sets parameters for road types.
• streets should form an attractive environment for walking and cycling. Applying the five Cs (comfortable, connected, conspicuous, convivial and convenient) to all streets as standard can help to improve their performance as walking and cycling routes.
• scale, type and use across the public realm network can provide for variety and diversity. Streets should be considered and managed as the social and environmental space of the city, not just as traffic routes. For example re-evaluation of the social value of Trafalgar Square has seen this landmark transformed from a traffic island to a key civic space. City-wide public realm strategies and planning can integrate the value of public realm and transport as currently being exemplified in cities like Copenhagen, London and Sheffield.

Guidance on street scale improvements to enhance the performance of streets can be found under the transport theme
 

Priority: maximise the potential of public space
Tags: public space, regions and subregions, cities and towns