Link And Place A Guide To Street Planning And Design By Prof Peter Jones
1. Link and Place:
A Guide to
Street Planning and Design
Prof. Peter Jones
Centre for Transport Studies, UCL, London
Engineers Australia, 6th October 2009
2. Introduction
• For decades, the primary concern on urban
streets has been to design for traffic
movement, often resulting in poor street
environments for pedestrians
• Growing recognition that streets contribute
in many ways to economic, environmental
and social life – which has been neglected:
– “Sharing the Main Street” (NSW, RTA)
– “Transitioning urban arterial roads to activity
corridors” (Curtis & Tiwari, Perth)
– “Manual for Streets” (DfT, UK)
3. •‘Manual for Streets’,
•Department for Transport, 2007
[and others]
• Recognises current problems
• Advocates greater emphasis
on Place
• Concentrates on residential
streets
4. Introduction
‘Link & Place: A Guide to
Street Planning and Design’,
Peter Jones, Natalya Boujenko
and Stephen Marshall, 2007
• Advocates an approach based on
streets as movement conduits
(Links) and destinations in their
own right (Places)
• Can be applied to any street within
a city or a town
5. PRINCIPLES: Dual functions of streets
LINK PLACE
street as a street as a
movement conduit destination in its
own right
6. PRINCIPLES: Dual functions of streets
LINK PLACE
street as a street as a
movement conduit destination in its
own right
Design objective: Design objective:
save time spend time
7. PRINCIPLES: Dual functions of streets
LINK PLACE
street as a street as a
movement conduit destination in its
own right
Design objective: Design objective:
save time spend time
8. LINK and PLACE activities
LINK: PLACE:
Through movement by: • People standing,
• Private cars, vans, sitting, sightseeing,
goods vehicles shopping, trading
• Public transport • Public performances,
parades,
• Cycles demonstrations, etc.
• Pedestrians • Parking (including
cycle parking)
• Loading / servicing
9. PLACE Levels
A
B
C
• Places of national, city, local significance, etc.
• Based on catchment area, cultural significance, etc.
• These form a spatial scatter – not contiguous
10. LINK Levels
I
II
III
• Spectrum of types, from strategic to local routes
• Strategic routes all connect up to form a single
contiguous network
• May have several transport networks: trucks, PT, …
11. The Link/Place Matrix
Place status
High Low
High
Link status
Low
Each cell represents a
particular type of street with
a specific combination of a
Link and Place status level
13. Link & Place applied to street network
• Link levels based on existing road
classification, but with modifications:
– To reflect change in de facto function
– To allow for priority for public transport or
cyclists
• Place levels based on:
– Catchment areas of premises alongside
– Cultural importance of adjoining buildings
– Cultural importance of the street space itself
15. Uses of the Matrix
• Identifies set of street types (cells) with
unique balance of Link/Place functions
• Further sub-division based on main land
use and mode priorities
• A street may change its cell by time of
day, day of week or time of year
• Design standards differ by cell
– Performance standards
– Design requirements
– Speed limits for a given Link status may vary
by Place status and land use type
16. …Leads to different design solutions
I-A I-B I-C I-D I-E I-A I-B I-C I-D I-E
II-A II-B II-C II-D II-E • Two urban streets II-A II-B II-C II-D II-E
• Same width
III-A III-B III-C III-D III-E III-A III-B III-C III-D III-E
• Different Link/Place status
IV-A IV-B IV-C IV-D IV-E • Different designs IV-A IV-B IV-C IV-D IV-E
V-A V-B V-C V-D V-E V-A V-B V-C V-D V-E
17. Using Link & Place in Design
• Identify relevant street user groups and
their desired activities
• Determine infrastructure requirements –
‘street design elements’
• Decide on level of provision:
– Minimum
– Desirable
• Use Link and Place status to determine
balance of space/capacity allocation
• Where no acceptable design solution:
downgrade Link or Place status (e.g.
Trafalgar Square)
18. Allocating ‘Discretionary’ Space
Pdes Pdes Place status
Pmin Pmin
Link status
Lmin
Ldes
Link E Available space
of nve between
op lo
tio pe desirable and
ns
minimum levels
Ldes
Lmin
Pmin Pdes Place
19. Case study: Freiburg
• 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
20. Different balance along a route
Design section 1
• Central carriageway portion to be converted to a dedicated tramway
• Cycle lanes added
• Segregated tram, cycle and traffic provision
21. Different balance along a route
Design section 2
• 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)
22. 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
23. Lower Link status to achieve Place
Streets around Place
Trafalgar Square
nal
Link
Natio ry Before I-A I-B I-C I-D I-E I-F
Galle
reconstruction –
II-A II-B II-C II-D II-E II-F
rrace After construction –
rt h Te
No
III-A III-B III-C III-D III-E III-F
gar
Trafal e
r
Squa IV-A IV-B IV-C IV-D IV-E IV-F
North Terrace
V-A V-B V-C V-D V-E V-F
After construction –
VI-A VI-B VI-C VI-D VI-E VI-F
26. Stakeholder Engagement: Background
• Traditionally, traffic engineers develop street
scheme solution(s) and then ‘consult’ residents
and local businesses, by asking for ‘objections’
• Local people have very little input into the design
process, so that:
– Their concerns and ideas are not incorporated
– They have little understanding of the limitations faced
by traffic engineers when designing streets
– They have little ownership of the final scheme
• This can lead to public apathy, or major high
profile disputes in areas with many competing
street uses
27. Aims of the Study
• To develop tools that enable local people
to contribute meaningfully to the street
space design process, through an
understanding of options and constraints
• Two tools developed (‘block’s and ‘bytes’):
– Tool 1: Physical blocks representing space
use
– Tool 2: Computer program – bytes -
(LineMap) to record, edit and analyse data
28. Tool 1 - Blocks
• Use scale blocks to represent different
space uses, in conjunction with detailed
maps of the high street:
– Users are made aware of many of the
component options (’street design elements’)
for allocating street space
– They then generate their own options, by
combining blocks in different ways and at
different locations
– Maps to scale allow users to work within the
constraints that the engineers face, without
having to have detailed knowledge.
29. Blocks – Colour and Size
• Use of colour to
Feature Colour
denote different types
Vehicle Lane Grey
of space usage.
Bus Lane Red
• Some of these based Cycle Lane Green
on current street General Parking Yellow
colour categories, e.g. Disabled Parking Blue
blue denotes disabled Loading Brown
parking (blue badge) Bus Stop Orange
• Size is based on size Traffic Island Cyan
of space actually Signal Crossing/ Magenta
Zebra Approach
needed to fit facility in
33. Existing conditions
Bloxwich High Street:
• 89 shops, 5 pubs, 2 large supermarkets, 1 school,
2 churches and a prosperous market
• 20,000 vehicles, 2-way in 12 hours
• 20 bus routes pass through area
• Pressures on parking/loading
• Concentration of accidents along the High Street
34. Local Council Interests
• Original proposals developed by consultants
and put out to public consultation in 2003 - with
strong opposition from local traders and
residents – and was withdrawn
• Council decided to try again, using a more
participatory approach, involving local
businesses, residents and politicians
• Resulted in a two-stage workshop-based
exercise, followed by ‘formal’ public consultation
35. 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 in
GIS, along with the planners solution, in
LineMap.
– The aspects of each plan can be discussed
on screen, and combined into a new plan.
36. Design Considerations
Place status
LINK Function:
Link status
national
city highway
boulevard
district
high street
local
streets
PLACE: Minimum
Function: spaces
Parking Bays 13
Loading Bays 12
Disabled Bays 4
Bus Stops 8
Crossings 3
39. Workshop One - Reactions
• Participants were enthusiastic about the
task
• They were divided into two design groups
• This method of design was liked by
previously ‘council sceptical’ people.
– They felt it was “their schemes” and felt that
the council may pay more attention to them
than they had to their concerns in the past.
• Council found that both schemes were
broadly feasible – blocks had built in basic
constraints
40. Workshop Two
• Previous participants were invited back
and other participants also attended
• The two schemes designed at the first
workshop were presented in road marking
form and block form on maps plotted using
LineMap and on screen
• Participants worked together, and agreed
on a combination of both schemes to be
put to public consultation, based on on-
screen editing of the GIS format
42. Workshop Two - Reactions
• A consensus was reached
• Participants were very satisfied with the
process
• One combined scheme was agreed to be
put out to public consultation:
– with some minor changes to its design
– With some sub-options (e.g. 20 mph zone?)
43. Display Bus on Bloxwich High Street
The display includes the full plan, information about the
area, and a description of the design process
44. Conclusions
• This time high level of public/business support at the
formal consultation stage, and very little opposition
• Using scale blocks and maps makes the design process
as simple as possible to understand, and highlights
opportunities and constraints
• LineMap provides a bridge between outline design and
professional drawings – suitable for use in larger public
meetings for scheme editing
• Process enables councils to regain confidence of local
people and plan with a wider understanding of the needs
of an area.
• Allows members of the public to participate in street
design and encourages innovative solutions
• Council very pleased with outcome – removes normal
confrontational approach – and is now using method in
other contentious areas
45. Conclusions
• Link & Place provides a new way of
addressing problems on urban streets
• It is intuitive and understood and
supported by stakeholders
• Gives due weight to both movement and
non-movement functions of streets
• Encourages strategic view and
comprehensive performance assessment
• Results in site-sensitive designs – not
uniform solutions along a corridor
46. Role of Different Professionals
Link Place
Planning Transport Urban
planners planners
Traffic Urban
Design
engineers designers
.
47. A shift in Design Philosophy
‘Rooms & Corridors’
(Buchanan, 1963)
48. A Shift in Design Philosophy
‘Rooms & Corridors’
(Buchanan, 1963)
Open-plan Office
(Link & Place)
49. Methodological Imbalances
LINK: PLACE:
• Full design standards • Partial design standards
• Quantitative PIs • Qualitative PIs
• Modelling flows, etc • Modelling - ?????
• Evaluation of user • Evaluation of features;
benefits: no direct measures of
– VoT savings user benefit:
– NOT value of bus lane! – VoT SPENT
– Quality of experience