URBAN DEPTH
“The beauty of streets lies in the complexity of a balanced relationship between the public space of the street itself, and the organisation of the private space: the building along sides. The quality and functionality of each street depends on that.”
Daniel Casas-Valle
MEETING SPACE
Streets are collective spaces, hosting a variety of activities. Good design offers the condition to use streets as meeting places and provide spaces formovement.
LINEAR MOVMENTS
Street sections are organised mainly for linear movements, connecting people and places with each other. It is a challenge, with the dominance of go-through traffic to not exclude other uses and users.
ECOLOGY
Streets form important ecological systems, at a local level and at a larger level. Streets offer space for natural-based-solutions.
INTERECTIONS
The attractiveness of urban life is the possibility to interact with each other. Including through hybrid areas between public and private space, which make (more) interactions possible. It is important to design good ground floors in buildings, taking also into consideration its ´urban depth´ during different moments of daily and weekly rhythms.
TREES
Trees make streets visually more attractive, offering shades for people, and provide conditions for flora and fauna. Due to the limited space of streets, it is very important to project trees in an early stage of the process (above and under the pavement level).
CRISS-CROSS MOVEMENTS
Streets form social meeting points in neighbourhoods: school street, shopping street, playstreet, market street. It is therefore important to ensure that criss-cross walking movements are made in an easy, safe, and pleasant manner.