Design of Street Spaces

Design of Street Spaces

Modern urban design tends to neglect the design of urban spaces, especially urban street spaces. Although people live in them, they are often a gaping hole in the urban fabric. The widening of streets and the overlapping of functions have become the hallmark of modern urban streets. The rapid economic development of the city has led to the emergence of a large number of high-rise office buildings, and the humane, life-like atmosphere of the city has almost disappeared. The expansion of space has created a distance between people and a deeper psychic gap. Jacobs says that when we think of a city, the first thing that comes to mind is the street. If the streets are alive, the city is alive; if the streets are dull, the city is dull (Hurtado, G. C. ., 2015). If there is a lack of effective design and planning in the design of street space, it will certainly have an impact on the lives of urban residents, and the reasonable design of street space is also related to the safety and convenience of social activities.

When it comes to the main points of urban street design, as far as I am concerned, it is important to pay attention firstly to the orderliness of the street space form, secondly to the rationality of the street space dimensions, then to the spatiality of the urban street space and finally to the functionality of the urban street space.

Order is also the continuity of the street, an element that ensures the overall form of the side interface in the design of urban street spaces. The orderly design of multiple architectural spaces contributes to the safety and comfort of the public. Reasonableness means that the design of urban street space dimensions must be observed from the perspective of the user, with human comfort as the main criterion for the design of dimensions to meet basic human needs. Sense of space refers to place, and is the new function of the modern urban street. Urban street spaces should be designed in such a way that people can feel comfortable in the street space and not rush through it (A Isabelle., 2015). Functionality refers to the fact that streets can be given multiple functions. People are the protagonists of the street space, and the street is a composite living space for public interaction and passage. In the street design, the street can be given multiple functions, such as leisure activities, amusement facilities, barrier-free facilities, parking facilities, information technology, etc.

References:

A Isabelle. (2015). Remaking the city street grid: a design for urban and suburban spaces.

Hurtado, G. C. . (2015). 14144 Capability of Street Activities on the Re-Humanization of Public Spaces : Design Proposal for the Surroundings of La Cultura Station in Lima City. Summaries of Technical Papers of Meeting. Architectural Institute of Japan.