In the past, "Streetscape Design" was comprised of fixing outdated utility systems and building new sidewalks and streets to be cleaner, safer and accessible. Much of this is still true. However, in today's changing landscape where people are always on the move, the need to make every street a place and every area an experience, the need to go beyond the basics and make streetscape design 'fun' is in demand now more than ever. The question then is - how do you make it FUN?

First, you need to design in FLEXIBILITY for multiple types of users. The street design needs to allow cars, but it also must be FRIENDLY and welcome bicycle riders and pedestrians to safely and comfortably travel down the street.

Example: Commercial Street in Springfield, Mo.

We incorporated a well-designed mid-block crossing, adding to the pedestrian circulation flow and safety. It also acts as a good device for traffic calming.

Commercial Street mid-block crossing

The design must also show flexibility so that multiple types of FUNCTIONS can occur along the street.

Example: Park Central Square

In order to make the downtown area more flexible and friendly, one of the key design elements was the replacement of the 6" curb around the perimeter with bollards and the addition of a tactile warning strip.

Bollards provide separation and delineation for vehicles while the warning strip alerts pedestrians to be careful before crossing into the street. This technique allows the safe blending of the line between cars and pedestrians. Overall, expanding the sidewalk and increasing the flexibility of the streetscape space allows for better interaction and for fun activities and events to occur.

When the street is shut down for special events, the streetscape now becomes a genuine pedestrianscape. Keeping the calendar full by programming specific activities will keep the space actively used and vibrant. This is key to streetscape success. This is also the key to keeping the space full of the right type of users.

Southeast corner - Before

Northwest corner - After     

By: Frank Zanaboni, ASLA

Earth Day has come and gone again. Did you do anything special or different for ED? I didn’t do as much as I’d have liked to , but I DID get my hands dirty. I actually touched the Earth. I pulled weeds. But on reflection, was weed removal the best thing to do on this special day when we are supposed to celebrate the beauty and power and fragility of our home the Earth? Buckminster Fuller coined the term “Spaceship Earth” years ago to remind us were we really live. We are but a floating spec in the universal scheme of things. He even wrote an Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth to do give us insights as to what we should be doing to take care for our “home” and to guide us to a sustainable future.

One of the key components of sustainability is diversity – biotic diversity. And, now that I reflect on it, “weeds” are a big part of our planet’s diversity. There should be no such thing as a “weed” since all plant life is important to the cycle of life and the cycle of sustainability on our planet. We need weeds and we eventually will see the value in all weeds. So, removing weeds probably was not the best project for Earth Day. I’ll make up for it this weekend - I’m planting flowers for my wife’s birthday – you can never have too many flowers blooming. I’m also planting a vegetable garden. I plant one every year. Some years I seem to grow more weeds than vegetables but there always seems to be a surplus of tomatoes – what do you call too many tomatoes? Tomato sauce...

It seems I’m hearing more and more concerns about trees in our urban areas getting in the way and causing problems with visibility, animal control and yard waste. Personally, I think trees are just getting a bad rap.

Let’s start with the root of the problem and work our way up. Roots – they seem to crack and lift up the pavement causing stubbed toes and extra work for attorneys. If you must get out the chain saw so be it, but - the truth is, some trees are less prone to surface roots than others and the proper selection before planting could have solved the potential problem. Now, if you must plant that blue ribbon variety with big roots, then use root guards that direct the surface roots down and deep into the ground; cheap insurance to safeguard against a major liability.

Once you’ve picked out the perfect tree, with little roots, it still seems to grow too big, too quickly becoming a giant “bird house” for flocks of birds intent on adding to the “texture” of the adjacent pavement, table tops and car hoods. Once again, some species of trees are more prone to attract the feathered element. Trees with juicy berries, or tight branching structures of dark, dense leaves, make safe, comfortable, inviting roosts. So the first solution, once again, would be to pick the right variety of tree. If it’s too late and you are dealing with an existing problem tree, then selective pruning to open the canopy can help for starters, and, as a last resort, a technique used by fruit tree growers is to attach rubber snakes to the branches or mount a dummy owl on a roof close by to play mother nature’s game of survival of the fittest.

Now, once the birds have flown the coop and the roots are comfortably snuggled deep in the ground, what do you do with all of those piles and piles of leaves in the fall time? Rake’em and burn’em up right? Wrong – typically that’s against the City ordinance – so we rake’em and sweep’em and bag’em and then cart them off to the yard waste drop off area so we can pick them up and take them back home next Spring in the form of garden mulch. Not a bad cycle – pretty much the way Mother Nature intended it to be.

Now there are a couple of techniques that we can use to simplify the cycle and make it a little less labor intensive. Again, the answer lies in the proper tree selection. Trees with small leaves tend to cleanup quickly and with less mass. Trees with a less dense canopy tend to have fewer leaves and allow a quicker clean-up. Second, don’t be fooled by evergreen trees - they still loose their leaves they just do it all year long.

So, before you break out the chain saw or worse yet, “x” out the tree symbol on the plan, do some research with your Landscape Architect on different varieties of trees and together you can find the right tree that even the grandkids will enjoy.