As America’s third century — and with it, the 21st Century — gets well underway, our urban fabric is evolving in ways urban developers and theorists like Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs could scarcely have imagined. In the process, we’re reimagining the very meaning of the city — its design, its purpose, and all that it’s capable of being. Streetscapes are an integral part of this evolution, and Unit Paving Inc. is proud of the part we’ve played in streetscape design in the Carolinas.
What is a Streetscape?
How we think about cities and towns — a bird’s-eye view that takes in the whole — is useful in some ways, but limited in others. Most of us, after all, experience the burgs we live in from ground level, in cars, taxis, and buses, or on foot. The streetscape is the roads and streets that frame that urban landscape, as well as the trees, signage, sidewalks, bus stops, and wayfinding that ornaments them. Smart streetscaping, therefore, considers the human scale and impact of our streets, and tries to determine how they might be made more effective.
Streetscape Trends
A few key trends are shaping modern streetscape design.
The Return of the Commons
As social media becomes more entrenched, many urban planners and local administrations are eyeing a return of public spaces to entice people outdoors. There are a number of reasons for this. It makes us more social, keeps us fitter and happier, helps us get to know our neighbors, and improves engagement and civic pride. Improving access to areas in which people can congregate — which can be as simple as a public park or an open-air market — helps toward this end.
Walkability
There are a number of pressures on the auto industry. Ownership and even leasing are on the decline, and as ride-sharing and autonomous driving take hold in the years ahead, that trend will only accelerate. But the impact is already being felt; people are choosing the places they live based on walkability, with younger professionals and home-buyers being especially attentive to cities’ Walk Scores. That makes features that are pedestrian-friendly especially important — including wayfinding features, better sidewalks, pedestrian bridges, and public spaces that are built with foot traffic rather than vehicle traffic in mind.
Transit-Oriented Development
In tandem with the decline of private vehicle ownership, we’re also seeing more money invested in public transportation, and on mixed-use development that maximizes access to buses and trains. This trend, called transit-oriented development, still sees the United States lagging behind most of the rest of the developed world, but shows encouraging signs of growth.
Sustainability
We know there’s a debate on climate change, but Mother Nature doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo. Record-breaking weather events, flooding, water shortages, and heat islands each pose challenges to municipalities of all sizes, giving rise to a sustainable approach to management and growth that seeks to mitigate the worst of natural and human activity. Among the innovative paving solutions we’ve seen are the deployment of permeable pavers, green roofs, and even one city’s drastic approach of painting its roadways white to combat the heat island effect.
Complete Streets
The trends mentioned above converge in Complete Streets. An initiative of nonprofit organization Smart Growth America, the Complete Streets project is gathering steam across the United States — including municipalities like Myrtle Beach and Charleston, SC, Chapel Hill, Durham, and Winston-Salem, NC, and the Departments of Transportation in both states, via a network of public-private and municipal partnerships.
This involves a multi-pronged approach that includes:
- Promoting and capitalizing on development in walkable neighborhoods
- Strategizing place-based economic development
- Provision for safer and more convenient travel options, including public transportation
- Supporting policy outcomes that support robust local community development
- Conducting research and analysis that promotes smart and sustainable growth strategies that involve whole communities
This is a time of challenges, but also of great opportunities. For help meeting those challenges and maximizing those opportunities in streetscape design, consult with Unit Paving Inc.