Brief Introduction of Guidelines of Urban Street Design

Chenjun ZHANG

Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330038, China

Abstract Street is the most basic public goods in a city, public activity place where the relationship among urban residents is the closest, and important space carrier of urban history and culture. Many elements, such as urban roads, ancillary facilities and buildings along the line, constitute a complete street space. Active pedestrians, moving vehicles and space constitute the street life with different characteristics. In modern urban life, street is given multiple roles increasingly.

Key words Traffic coordination, Building interface, Green development concept, Suitable for business and living

1 Introduction

Since the beginning of the 21st century, building a city full of vitality, focusing on social harmony and sustainable development has become the common goal of major cities in the world, and a wave of street remodeling has followed. Local governments generally recognize that it will greatly promote the achievement of the above goals to increase the attention to walking, cycling and urban life in the streets. Urban development of China has entered a new historical period. In city working conference of central committee, it highlighted the development concept of "innovation, coordination, green, opening and sharing", and required to continuously improve the quality of urban environment, people’s living quality and urban competitiveness, and build a harmonious, livable, vigorous and distinctive modern city. In theOpinionsoftheStateCounciloftheCPCCentralCommitteeonfurtherStrengtheningtheManagementofUrbanPlanningandConstruction[1], it further proposed "impelling the development of open, convenient, and harmonious neighborhood with appropriate scale and complete supporting", establishing the layout concept of urban road of "narrow road and dense road network", enhancing the construction of bicycle lane and pedestrian system, and advocating green travel[2]. Street is the most basic public products in a city. Under the new situation, it is an important way to meet the people’s demand for public goods and services by strengthening the construction and renewal of streets[3]. In the past, urban road construction and development mainly focused on the systematic traffic function, and there was a lack of attention to the slow traffic mainly serving for the block and the place function of serving for the interaction along the street. Therefore, the existing construction mode must be transformed and innovated to realize the transformation from road to street[4]: transforming from "focusing on motor vehicle passing" to "focusing on people’s communication and lifestyle"; transforming from "control of road red line" to "street space control"; transforming from "engineering design" to "overall space environment design"; transforming from "emphasizing on traffic efficiency" to "promoting the integration of streets and blocks".

2 Brief introduction of guidelines of urban street design

2.1 Greening module

2.1.1Commercial green space. Greening layout should be simple and open, and trees, shrubs, flowers and lawns should be well matched. It should not only meet the unity of ecological adaptability between plants and environment, but also consider using the combination and level of different plants to merge with the buildings, and consisting ideal landscape in plant disposition, especially needing to notice overlooking effect.

2.1.2Waterfront green space. The ecological and landscape functions of waterfront green space are mainly realized by plants. It is dominant by native tree species, adheres to the principle of appropriate tree species and biodiversity, increases landscape heterogeneity, and creates stable plant community. The degraded natural ecological function of urban waterfront green space is stored, and sustainable development of landscape is realized. It should sufficiently excavate the history and cultural deposits of the city, and analyze basic status quo sufficiently, thereby showing certain regional characteristics[5].

2.1.3Road greening. In plant selection, it should sufficiently consider molding making, select the plants with lower branches and higher stems, and maintain clear sight line. It should enhance plant maintenance and management in the later stage, and do well overwintering protection and cold resistance of precious tree species. In greening belt and lawn with flowers,etc., flowers should be planted and seeded, to enrich road landscape and color. Flowering period should be extended to enhance appreciation. It is suggested enhancing coordination and cooperation of greening, landscape, construction, road and other departments, to ensure landscape coordination and unification[6].

2.2 Pavement module

2.2.1Industrial road. The sidewalk is paved with blue gray permeable pavement with low color. The public space can be made of warm-tone homogeneous brick, granite or concrete molding art floor and other materials with low and medium color, to create rich landscape paving effect, but it should avoid being too fancy. The parking lot can be made of grass brick, grass grid or super grass terrace.

2.2.2Life road. In life road, sidewalk is mainly made of homogeneous bricks or garden sintered bricks, and simple texture and color change give people a warm and peaceful feeling. The sidewalk that was originally concrete pavement can use art treatment of film pressing. It is recommended to use permeable materials, such as permeable brick and permeable sand,etc.

2.2.3Landscape road. Landscape road could select concrete brick, granite, archaize brick, slate, artistic sandstone or artistic molding floor, and even steel plate, copper plate and other materials, to create landscape road with regional characteristics and cultural connotation.

2.3 Building facade

2.3.1Color. The building facade should adopt a coordinated and unified color system, which is generally compatible with the surrounding environment. The facade of some characteristic buildings or node buildings can try to use a more distinctive color form, to highlight its particularity and symbolism[7].

2.3.2Material. Materials of building facade can be light and environment-friendly stone paint or green paint, and ceramic sticks, aluminum materials or anti-corrosion wood can be used to construct facade of characteristic building for some node buildings, to enrich facade effect.

2.3.3Form. For facade style, local characteristic architectural elements could be selected, to form architecture with regional characteristics, which also has local cultural attributes.

2.3.4Shop sign. Shop sign should be close to architectural facade style, and a unified style should be formed in a certain area, to reach the purpose of harmony and regularity.

2.4 Identification system and safety facilities

2.4.1Information guide board. Reasonable service radius should be fully considered in the layout of functional street furniture: map guide board, 500 m block map and indicator board should be set near people flow distribution points such as street intersections.

2.4.2Characteristic logo. Stone, anticorrosive wood and other materials should be selected, and characteristic logo is set near important intersections, buildings and landscape nodes, to remind the area boundary of visitors and guide the pedestrian flow line.

2.4.3Road median. Flower box could be selected, and the style should adapt to the surrounding architecture and landscape style.

2.4.4Mechanical and non mechanical separator. Colorful greening and landscape sketch are used to beautify mechanical and non mechanical separator, and traffic safety should be ensured at the same time.

2.5 Night lighting

2.5.1Lighting street lamp. On one side of the sidewalk, there is a single street lamp with a spacing of about 30 m. On branch road, single street lamp is set on both sides of sidewalk, and spacing distance is about 30 m. Double street lights are set on mechanical and non mechanical separator of urban secondary trunk road, and spacing distance is about 40 m. Double street lights are set on mechanical and non mechanical separator of urban secondary trunk road, and spacing distance is about 30 m. Double street lights are set on mechanical and non mechanical separator of urban expressway, and spacing distance is about 30 m.

2.5.2Landscape lamps. When guaranteeing safe and effective traffic, it should create visual comfort and pleasant beauty. Courtyard and lawn lamps with distinctive shape and good lighting effect are selected to arrange along the road, thereby constituting smooth melody curve.

2.5.3Characteristic lighting. At important building and landscape nodes, some special night scene lighting facilities could be increased according to actual situation, to create rich night scene environment[8].

2.5.4Festival lighting. At important nodes and commercial sections, holiday lighting is increased, to set off the regional night scene atmosphere and improve the street quality.

2.6 Urban furniture

2.6.1Bus station. Public transport kiosks should be set in the public facilities zone, and the maximum developed outer edge within 2.5 m from the ground shall not exceed the public facilities zone. If it is really necessary to set up a public transport station, a simple, transparent structure that can guarantee pedestrian traffic to the maximum degree shall be adopted, thereby not affecting pedestrian traffic. When there are five (including five) public line cars parked at the same station, they could be set as the same public transport station. If there are more than five bus lines at the same station, two public transport kiosks can be set. If two public transport kiosks are set at the same station, the two kiosks shall be separated by 2 to 3 m. At the same time, public transport kiosk and electronic station sign should be set up, to implement the combination of sign and kiosk and reduce road space occupation. If the above requirements are not met, demolition and adjustment shall be carried out, and all bus dispatching kiosks on the sidewalk shall be demolished at the same time.

2.6.2Service post. Service post shall be set at the area with dense population or the intersection of main urban roads. In the form, it should adapt to the surrounding building form and road characteristics. In the material, light and fire-resistant steel and glass should be selected. Meanwhile, it should be controlled from cost and management, to ensure economic practicability.

2.6.3Sculpture sketch. The design of sculpture should have a distinct theme and highlight the cultural characteristics and environmental grade of the region. In the planning, it should combine the features of different functions of surrounding sections, and shape different series of sculpture themes. Sculpture should be planned in a unified way, highlight key points, and have rational layout. The proportion of sculpture should be strictly controlled, and it should maintain harmony with the surrounding environment. It could combine greening environment and public activity design, highlight the different atmosphere of various places, and pay attention to the artistry and artistry of sculpture. At important nodes such as square, park, and green space,etc., large-scale theme sculpture could be set. It is advisable to arrange series of sculptures with affinity or continuous themes along the main streets, and small and medium-sized sculptures with different themes should be arranged in street green space and leisure square.

2.6.4Stool. Adjacent to the densely populated commercial streets, there should be no less than 2 m of rest benches for every 100 m2of pedestrian road. It is suggested to choose a neat and tidy form to fit the overall style of the high tech zone. Stone materials and anticorrosive wood should be selected to make the user comfortable in the process and ensure the simple management and maintenance in the later stage.

2.7 Node design

2.7.1Open space. After combing the existing urban open space, personalized planning and design of different functional blocks can be carried out. Key points of open space, such as greening, sketch and open space could be considered overall, thereby opening the space to the public.

2.7.2Key building. For key buildings in the area, after sufficiently considering the existing style base, functional properties and future use of the building, the style is improved and upgraded under the premise of not changing its intrinsic value, making it become regional core building to gather popularity.

2.7.3Urban entrance and exit. Landscape sculpture with identity and particularity is set at the entrance and exit of the area, to remind regional boundaries of visitors, and it could effectively highlight the city’s personality.

3 Design principles of streets with different functions

3.1 Commercial streetThe commercial street should keep the compact space, strengthen the activity contact on both sides of the street, and create the commercial atmosphere. The size of motorway (quantity and width) is compressed to ensure plenty of walking space. When necessary, it can combine with regional traffic organization to separate motor vehicles and non motor vehicles in main commercial streets. It is recommended to control the width of sidewalk (total width of facility belt, pedestrian area and front area of building) to about 5-8 m, to promote the positive interaction between walkers and business interface and avoid overcrowding and emptiness. The integrated design of sidewalk and back off space should be conducted in commercial street. Except catering street, the width of the front area of open building should not be more than 2 m, providing pedestrian access to commercial display windows. The front area of the building with a width of 3-5 m can be set as the outdoor dining area in the catering street.

3.1.1Planting of street trees. In the selection and layout of street trees in commercial streets, it is necessary to avoid the negative occlusion of the crown to the businesses along the street. It should encourage the selection of tall and well permeable street trees. In the narrow pedestrian street, it should encourage the planting of street trees in the center of the street, thereby forming the central facilities and activity zone by combining the rest facilities and the outside area.

3.1.2Traffic coordination. Commercial streets along main roads should be avoided in newly built areas. For the existing commercial section along the trunk road, the space and noise shall be isolated through greening and other measures, to improve activity comfort. The possibility of crossing the street should be provided along the commercial street. It should increase crosswalk and other crossing facilities as much as possible under the situation of not affecting main line traffic. In other streets, it should encourage using the stabilizing measures to control vehicle speed, making it easy for pedestrians to cross the street.

3.1.3Building interface. A neat and continuous building interface shall be provided along the street to form a continuous bottom commercial use. It should ensure density of commercial stores, and it is better to have more than 7 merchants per 100 m on one side. Non commercial building entrances and exits are encouraged along the line to ensure the activity of the street during non-commercial activities. Wide sidewalk should be zoned, and rainwater garden could be set to improve street landscape, or temporary facilities such as kiosk shall be set in the wider boundary, to improve shop density. Street trees should be added in wide sidewalk to shade pedestrian activity areas.

3.2 Life service streetSmall and medium-sized retail, catering, life service-oriented commercial facilities and public service facilities mainly serving for local residents, enterprises and workers are set along the life service street. Life service street should become an important place of community daily life, and provide meeting and communication space for residents of different ages and backgrounds[9].

3.2.1Space and facilities. The street space should be intensively used, and sufficient and shaded slow traffic space should be guaranteed. It provides places and facilities to meet the needs of various residents’ activities, such as rest node, children’s playground and fitness venue, and opportunities for casual meetings.

3.2.2Traffic coordination. In the newly built area, it should encourage combining branch road to layout life service street, and applying the stabilizing measures to reduce vehicle speed. For the existing life service section along the urban trunk road, it should carry out space and noise isolation by greening and other measures, and improve activity comfort. In the existing life service section along the urban branch road, it should reduce the parking along the road and increase the space for rest and activity.

3.2.3Building interface. It should encourage to set life service-oriented commerce and community public service facilities in buildings along the line, mixing the living, office and other functions. It should encourage to increase the number of entrances and exits along the street, and provide residential functions on the upper part of the street wall, to provide "street eye" at night.

3.3 Landscape leisure streetLandscape leisure street refers to the street with outstanding landscape or historical features and leisure facilities along the line[10]. Landscape leisure street mainly includes boulevard, landscape street, waterfront street, and historic street,etc. Four or more rows of street trees are planted along the boulevard; landscape street reflects urban and regional features through buildings along the line; waterfront street is a street along the river; historical street is mainly featured by historical buildings and street trees on both sides.

3.3.1Activities along the street. The activities of landscape leisure street mainly include walking, running, cycling and other leisure activities, and construction, leisure and other activities can be carried out by combining with space nodes. For landscape leisure street, creating unique landscape features is not the goal, and the fundamental purpose is to stimulate street activities through beautiful landscape[11]. Small scale landscape leisure streets can be formed in residential and office communities, and it should enhance landscape design to promote leisure and communication within the community.

3.3.2Space and facilities. For landscape leisure street with green belt along the street, the sidewalk and the green belt along the line will be designed in an integrated way to expand the space for leisure activities.

3.3.3Traffic coordination. It should encourage setting bus routes along the street. Via path linking, it could enhance link of waterfront street with community and ferry, to improve accessibility.

3.4 Traffic streetTraffic street refers to the street dominant by non open interface, with less non traffic activities. All kinds of traffic activities along the street are the main activities of traffic streets. For traffic artery, motor vehicle traffic forms the main part of traffic. For some streets inside the community, walking, non motor vehicle traffic, motor vehicle arrival and departure, temporary stop constitute the main activities of these streets. In the traffic street, it should make overall distribution of space according to the demands of progressive traffic, public traffic, non motor vehicle traffic, freight traffic, motor vehicle traffic and static traffic, and give priority to higher-priority transportation mode[12].

4 Conclusions

An ideal street is not only the infrastructure that allows vehicles and pedestrians to pass through but also should meet citizens’ yearning for street life. Meanwhile, it is also the embodiment of urban block vitality, and is conducive to enhancing the charm of a city, stimulating its economic vitality, promoting cultural connotation of the city, and shaping the spirit of the city.