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Landscape Institute responds to Department for Transport consultation on the draft Manual for Streets

9th August 2006

Design, building communities and quality places are just some of the areas covered in the Department for Transport's draft for its Manual for Streets. With so many elements of landscape architecture relating to our streets the LI had to respond on behalf of the profession.

Landscape Institute's response:

Design Bulletin 32 is a major reference for landscape architects as environment and design professionals in the built environment. It is essential therefore that Manual for Streets which will replace it is a comprehensive and progressive development which facilitates the work of landscape architects in place-making and acknowledges the centrality of landscape architects to the development of sustainable communities.

We strongly welcome the initiative to develop the Manual for Streets as a positive move in the right direction. However we would urge that a senior, highly experienced landscape architect be part of the team which will take the final drafts forward.

Use of the term ‘landscaping’ in the draft leads us to believe that there is a lack of understanding of the role of the landscape architect professional and the positive contribution the profession can make to the good outcomes being sought by the guidance.

There needs to be a more robust discussion of key elements such as:

1. Floorscape and planting. These should not be hidden under adoption and maintenance.

2. The list of requirements for schemes should include a strategic public realm framework and management plan.

3. We have some concerns that while the draft refers to best urban design practice it is intended to focus on residential and lightly trafficked streets. We believe the manual should be focused on ‘streets for towns and suburbs’ to mark a change of emphasis and to question a perhaps unintended assumption that we will be continuing to build residential estates.

4. New thinking about streets needs to be flexible to allow them to evolve and be adaptable to both seasonal and long term changes.

5. We believe that within a hierarchy the primary concept should be pedestrian priority and that this should be reinforced throughout the manual, along with a proper balance between design for peak use (which creates an unacceptable balance in road space allocation and management regimes, usually to the detriment of the pedestrian and children in particular) and that for other times.

6. Parking provision should not be linked to projected levels of car ownership, rather to ease of access to public transport and other community based facilities.

7. Any alterations to a scheme must be monitored to ensure retrospective infrastructure such as guard railing is not erected in such a way as to damage the integrity of a well functioning design.

8. Vehicular access should take priority over through traffic needs.

9. Most roads are too wide – they encourage illegal parking and high speeds, these then discourage pedestrians, children at play and cyclists.

10. Traffic infrastructure (e.g. guard rails, lamps and signs, control boxes) and illegal parking reduce visibility. Better management and enforcement is essential.

11. The three dimensional qualities of good design are too often overlooked. Pattern making in floorscapes, often adopted by non-designers such as engineers, is usually an inadequate solution.

12. The manual needs more detail on sustainable urban drainage (SUDS) and issues such as green roofs, street frontages and landscape management.

It is worth noting that landscape architects are trained and are more experienced than any of the other built environment professionals in the design of the pedestrian environment, sustainable communities and place-making, including streetscapes. Manual for Streets will be a key document for the profession. It is therefore of critical importance that the manual is fully informed by the landscape architect’s experience and professional input. It is also important that the central role of the landscape architect in the design team is illuminated throughout the document to ensure that there is an appropriate design and technical lead on future ‘placemaking’ schemes.

For more information go to Manual for Streets.

Source: LI