The finishing of streets and open space relates to matters such as the surfacing, planting, artwork and seating. With unsuccessful places the first assumption made is often “let’s throw some money at improving the public realm.” However, good quality public realm cannot make up for a poorly designed urban structure, just as fancy buildings won’t.
If the structure of the place simply does not function in the way it needs to achieve the character sought, polishing the finishes of the public realm will not resolve the inherent problem, it may make the place look nicer in the short term but it won’t solve the problem long term. It will put a sticking plaster over it when it really needs stitches- or as they say “you can’t polish a turd, but you can cover it in glitter”
CLICK HERE for Streetview: a fortune has been spent on expensive public realm but it doesn’t solve the inherent problem that the place is dominated by the car movement system of a roundabout. They have even gone to the trouble on the left of creating an art installation bench combo to force people to the side of the street which makes it harder to for pedestrians to cross and move about the space on foot.
If the urban structure and scale of any street or open space is right and appropriate for the context and character sought, then it is more likely to be successful. Crucially if these factors are right it is often possible to “get away with” fairly utilitarian materials to finish the public realm. For as long as the place feels nice then people won't notice the use of cheap materials to finish the road and pavements- because that won't matter- a great place will have been achieved through the structural characteristics.
Less is more: CLICK HERE for a Streetview tour of Masham. It is a nice place because of the underlying urban structure and the successful relationship of the buildings to the street and the space. The public realm finishes are all super basic.
Or CLICK HERE for the same in London's Olympic park- make sure you take a 360 degree view.
Or CLICK HERE for the same in the fake old world of Poundbury.
Highways design is one of the dullest things known to man and the technicalities of highways design will do a good job of putting anyone to sleep so I am not going to delve into to much more detail other than to give you the less is more message by video here before you move to section 12.
If you want to see the video locations in more detail:
CLICK HERE for Baildon
CLICK HERE for Stallingborough
CLICK HERE for Cathall
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