Feedback cards from Reet So’s ‘Sow an Idea’ participation activity held throughout Park Here
PARK HERE: Re-imagining St Paul’s Street Contents 1
Introduction
2
Setting the Scene
3
Re-imagining St Paul’s Street
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Re-imagining St Paul’s Street to Park Here
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Global PARK(ing) Day
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Park Here
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Park Here : Re-imagining St Paul’s Street
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Reet So : Participation Feedback
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Park Here : Re-imagining St Paul’s Street Review
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With Special Thanks To
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Additional Resources
With thanks to :
Introduction
Re-Imagining St. Paul’s Street is a vision created by DLA Design Group to support the wider debate about improving the public realm in Leeds. In 2015, Leeds City Council produced a ‘Leeds Public Realm Design, Ideas and Opportunities’ document to encourage discussions about the enhancement of the public realm in the city.
ity Council lm, Leeds C ea R lic ub P Vision for
Park Here, DLA 2015
The document identified that well designed streetscapes and the public realm is key to increasing vibrancy and attractiveness of the city whilst aiding a pedestrian focused environment to create an economically successful, livable and healthy city centre for people of all ages and abilities. As a multi-disciplinary company of Architects, Urban Designers and Landscape Architects located on St. Paul’s Street, its staff have become acutely aware that the street, which is currently a hard urban car dominated backwater thoroughfare, could be transformed through some rebalancing of priorities. Alongside the City Council’s goals for the wider city, DLA Design Group, wanted to influence and contribute to the debate about how public realm is used by exploring a new masterplan for St Paul’s Street. With a little creative thinking and some rebalancing between the car and the pedestrian, the character of the street could be transformed into a vibrant, attractive, humanised space with a unique character which could act as a catalyst for the evolution of spaces across the city, to create a more civilized and people-friendly environment. This document explains the process a team from DLA Design Group went through to develop a masterplan for the street and deliver a temporary intervention to demonstrate the potential for change and engagement with a wider audience.
LA uls Street, D Vision for St Pa
1
Setting The Scene
Mass urbanisation has occurred over the last 200 years, and as of 2007, the majority of people lived in towns and cities. With a continuing shift to urban living, cities across the world are facing much greater social, economic and environmental pressures. Cities must respond to these challenges and continue helping to make people happy, healthy and fulfilled.
Hyllie Plaza, Malm o
Throughout the 20th century, cities were redesigned to better accommodate vehicular traffic with negative impacts on congestion and public realm quality. Although cities today are working to enhance public space for pedestrians and cyclists, many around the world still face the same problems including, - - - -
Overcrowded pavements Badly designed pavements with obstacles Streets without seats which discourages people to stop and experience spaces Disconnected public spaces which aren’t suitable for potential users
There is a growing awareness that nature can aid delivery of livable cities which is reflected in increased demand for green infrastructure and open space in urban areas.
oad, London Exhibition R
People now have more reasons to migrate to urban areas from employment to experiencing the vibrancy and culture of cities. This requires a new need for identity in cities, which is why local community input is becoming more important in the planning and design process in order to encourage healthy lifestyles and social interaction.
Madrid RIO Proje ct
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Re-imagining St Paul’s Street : Identifying the Problems
The Process
Spatial Analysis
Through a series of analytical processes a series of constraints and opportunities were identified. The following pages outline the data collection activities that were undertaken including pedestrian and car counts and analysis of street usage, and consultation with neighbours and users of the street.
The initial spatial analysis identified that vehicles are prioritised for two thirds of the available space on the one way street through the provision of a carriageway and parking spaces on either side. However, conversely on a typical week day the pedestrian counts indicated that two thirds of movements through the space were actually pedestrian with only one third being vehicles. Observational analysis identified that during peak periods pedestrians were often forced to walk within the carriageway corridor due to the volume of people movements and limited footpath widths, particularly on the south side of the street. Furthermore, during the period of assessment it was identified that on an average week day only around half the parking spaces were being used. Therefore, given the volumes of pedestrian and vehicle borne movements and under-utilised parking spaces there appears to be an over-provision of space provided for vehicles. This suggested that there is an opportunity to narrow the carriageway, given its one-way status, reduce the number of parking spaces and widen the footpaths.
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Typical street use Monday to Friday
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Spatial Characteristics
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Parking space use Monday to Friday
5%2 48 FU
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Re-imagining St Paul’s Street : How do people use the street? Public Consultation In order to engage with local residents, businesses and street users a micro-website was launched to assist the consultation and gain a better understanding of how the street is currently used and how it could be improved.
the that iew d e show tly v tion curren ribing a t l u sc eople cons , de The ity of p sitively r o majo treet p s the : it as ight r - B ergising al n E sion s t e n f a br pro - Vi stling and Say e k i Have Your u l RE-IMAGINING B ss - PAUL’S e ST STREET n i us LEEDS What makes St Paul’s Street -B special and unique?
As a tenant of St Paul’s Street, DLA Design Group wants to hear your thoughts about how the street could be enhanced for the benefit of everyone. With your help we want to develop a new vision for St Paul’s, which we will start to test 13 – 16 September with ‘Park Here’ a temporary pocket park using parking bays on the corner of St Paul’s Street and Park Square West. This will coincide with an exhibition of ideas for the street at our office, 55 St Paul’s Street.
We’d love to hear what you think!
What could be changed to make your experience of the street more positive?
DLA team or drop Return this slip to a member of the Leeds, LS1 2TE. in at the DLA office, 55 St Paul’s St,
Project by
Or complete our online survey at
www.parkhereleeds.co.uk
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RE-IMAGINING ST PAUL’S STREET LEEDS
ting A temporary pocket park demonstra t. new design ideas for St Paul’s Stree
www.parkhereleeds.co.uk Howe ver, m @parkhereleeds ost re that it s follow can be imp pondents a in r g most g aspects oved and t reed impor w h e e r e rais ta - Wid ed as en pa nt : v - Mo re se ements ating - Mo / re - Bet greenery break out space t more er quality pavem wheelc e h - Les s focu air / push nts to be chair s on t frie raffic and p ndly arkin g
Why do you use St Pauls Street?
What makes St Paul’s Street special and unique?
To walk to work
I work here
Its history
Range of shops and businesses
I run a business here Park my car To shop
6 %8%
4% 4% Utilise businesses
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14 19
%
%
40
%
29 38 %
18 6 % % 1 %
%
Building character To eat/ drink
Location and connecting routes
As a through route
What could be changed to make the street more positive? Wider pavements
Seating
Aesthetics Scaffolding, poor lighting, cluttered signage
3%1 2%9 2%4 1%6 More trees
Least favourite aspects about the street?
Lacks of greenery
Drains
Traffic Too many cars, noisy, too fast, expensive parking
2%0 23 %
6%%
3 %
9
No outside space
3%9
Pavements
Too narrow, central posts in the way, overcrowded, not wheelchair/ pushchair friendly
Fewer cars
Cleaner pavements Ability to spill out onto street More visiblity for shops More flowers / greenery
Describe the atmosphere of the street? Negative Response
Cover when it rains
No atmosphere, placid
Neutral Response Business- like, purposeful place of transition, depends on weather
These responses reinforced the findings in the spatial analysis that reducing the focus on vehicles and providing more space for pedestrians would assist in improving the street for its users.
10 13 % %
7%7 Positive Response Bustling, vibrant, lively, bright and personal, energising, busy but pleasant, relaxed
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Re-imagining St Paul’s Street : Photographic Analysis
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crowded arrow,
2 N
Not enough bins
nts
paveme
3 Too muc h tr
a
9 3
5
10
1
8
6
5 Too many em
pty parkin g spaces
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nts
6 Ob
aveme on the p s le c a t s
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Lacks greenery
op 4 No space to st
affic
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Connecting
routes
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2
4
7
s
teristic 10 Building charac
11 Range of busin
esses
8 No proper seating 8
Re-imagining St Paul’s Street : Addressing the Problems
Identify key nodes, crossing points and direction of traffic
Proposed tree lined street
Proposed raised tables and a shared surface
Sun 9
pat
h
The Vision Following on from the conclusions of the data collection and in response to the consultation it was clear that a vision for the street should be developed that focused on prioritising pedestrians.
Pedestrian and vehicle counts throughout the working day indicate the street should be prioritised in favour of the pedestrian. This could be achieved through widening of pavements, the introduction of seating areas and street trees, reduction of the road to a single carriageway and rationalisation of car parking - all to the benefit of the pedestrian. As a one way street the proposals retain ample space for vehicles and adequate parking.
Proposed section A
Existing section A
1.800m
2.125m
2.370m
3.950m
2.370m
1.800m
2.200m
2.370m
2.125m
14.815m
2.100m
2.370m
2.200m
14.815m
Existing section B
1.980m
3.950m
Proposed section B
4.200m
13.280m
2.400 m
2.600m
m
1.980 m
2.100m
4.200m m
2.400 m
2.600m
13.280m
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Re-imagining St Paul’s Street : Proposed Masterplan
New Road, Brighton
oad, New R
Widening of pedestrian areas to the north of the street enabling introduction of seating, trees and furniture, to promote informal meeting and relaxation areas.
Key crossings points are raised with paving patterns to encourage traffic to slow in favour of the pedestrian.
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n
Brighto
Shared Space In recent years shared space schemes have attempted to declutter streets by stripping out kerbs, road markings and traffic signs resulting in the theory that drivers reduce their speed because of uncertainty over who has priority. Shared space design can take many different forms depending on the level of demarcation and segregation between different transportation modes however is opposed by some organisations representing the interests of minority groups such as blind, partially sighted and deaf people, who often express a preference for the clear separation of pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
Exhibition R oad, London
The creation of a green visual link with Park Square through new street trees along St Paul’s Street will offer shade to pedestrians and encourage biodiversity.
However, this shouldn’t conflict with attempts to ‘declutter’ streets such as St. Pauls Street where a lower degree of physical distinction between footways and the carriageway could be appropriate coupled with measures to keep the speed and volume of that motor traffic low, to create places where people cycling feel relaxed using the carriageway, and where those with visual impairment can cross in relative comfort.
Parking will be limited to the north side of the street.
Pavements to the south remain the same width however removal of all signage to declutter, allowing more space for pedestrians.
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Re-imagining St Paul’s Street to Park Here
‘Park Here’ was a temporary intervention created by DLA Design Group to promote the potential of the masterplan and engage further with street users and the wider debate on improving public realm in the city by demonstrating the benefits that re-prioritising spaces can bring. The timing of the temporary intervention, 13-16 September 2016, was timed to coincide with PARK(ing) Day - an annual worldwide event where artists, designers and citizens transform parking spaces into temporary public parks to call attention to the need for more urban open space and generate critical debate around how public space is created and allocated.
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Various precedents of temporary installations
Precedents of street transformations around the world
‘Colour Jam ’, Chicago
‘Colour Jam’, Chicago
Artist Jessica Stockholder used colour to transform the grey, steel city with the aim to “break up the normal experience of walking down a street” and engage visitors to incorporate the artwork into their daily lives.
A project bought to Glasgow to encourage people to play in the streets again. With busier streets and more digital options for playing, the aim was to provide a place to encourage people to move and play in public spaces again. Painted shapes on the floor and traditional street games with facilitators encouraged people to get involved.
Scotch Hop pers, Glasg ow
An exercise in musical cooperation which created ownership of the space through interactions between people, encouraging them play and hang out in a familiar place, previously used for transition only.
s, 21 Balançoire
Montreal
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Global PARK(ing) Day
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PARK(ing) Day The intervention was timed to tie in with global event ‘Park(ing) Day’, an annual worldwide event on Friday 16th September, where artists, designers and citizens transform metered parking spots into temporary public parks.
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Park Here : Locating the Intervention
A number of different options for the location and size of the temporary intervention were considered. Whether the intervention should be on one side or two sides of the road, the number of spaces that would be needed to make the intervention meaningful or indeed whether a temporary road closure would be most appropriate. Whilst a temporary road closure was considered to have the greatest potential impact and generate wider debate, the capacity of the team to deliver a meaningful intervention on a scale necessary to warrant a road closure meant this option was impractical.
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Park Square West
St Pauls House
Pizza Express
St Pauls Street
Wino
Love Food
DLA office
The final decision on the location for the intervention resulted in utilizing two car parking spaces on either side of the road adjacent to the junction of St. Pauls Street and Park Square West. These spaces were identified as one of the key connecting nodes identified in the masterplan and is adjacent to several key businesses who were involved in the consultation and passionately supported the installation event.
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Park Here : Initial Concept Design
Continue strips down the street to draw attention from afar
Continue strips vertically up the buildings, integrate window display
DLA office
Use positioning of benches and strips of colour to connect the two sides of the street
Offset some benches against the building to encourage interaction with the installation
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Building on the vison of the masterplan the team felt a key driver for the intervention would be to demonstrate how the re-prioritisation of the spatial hierarchy and improving visual connectivity within the space would enhance the quality of the public realm. However, this concept was not intended to be a direct representation of a final proposal for a design for the street.
DLA office
Use a uniform angle for the lines, diagonal to the benches
Pizza Express
Use the yellow feature from the benches to connect the sides
Build the parking spaces up to pavement level
St Pauls House
Continue diagonal lines down the street
Furthermore, an early risk assessment and dialogue with Leeds City Council placed a number of constraints within which the design had to evolve. Taking these issues on board the evolved a number of iterative responses.
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Park Here : Design Development - Contin ue the c olour acr paveme oss the nt to ex tend th - Offse e space t some b en the build ings to e ches against nco interact with the urage people to - Use a space ngled st rips of c connect olour to th - Angle e two sides s in-line with the positionin bench g - Contin ue the c olo connect the build ur vertically to ings
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e street across th n io t c e n The con g enough o be stron he road needed t t e paint on without th
Different ways to acheive the connections were tested
Trees and benches set against building
Use sections of colour to define a path through the installation
Planters at either end
Use the bench positioning to determine the locations of the strips of colour
OSB boards across the pavements
Coloured strips continue vertically up the buildings
After considering cost and deliverability, the installation was developed and rationalised. It included fewer strips of colour which would continue vertically, integrated in the window display, trees on the north side and planters on the south and OSB boards running across the pavements. 22
Park Here : Design Development
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The design for the intervention evolved further with input from Leeds City Council. A number of practical and regulatory constraints lead to further iteration of the detail whilst maintaining the essence of the original design concept.
Don’t e ncourag e people t o cross the road wit h the st rips for healt h and safety concern s
ad t ro n i a ’t p to Can ave h d and ul - wo he road ns t ictio r e t s s o cl s re way h g i h
Have to keep the building li ne free
SB run O ’t n a C oss s acr d r a o b ue to nts d e m e pav afety and s h lt a he he with t s n r e conc ls n leve uneve
e
t th pain y l n o oved Can rem f i h way pat ht a g i a str
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Park Here : Final Design
DLA Office
The consultation, feedback and design iteration resulted in a scheme for the temporary intervention that provided a clear vision for the spatial qualities and benefits to the public realm that could be achieved by rebalancing the priorities of the street. Through the use of colour, the introduction of coordinated street furniture and street trees the section of the street was transformed into a vibrant and humanised space. 25
St Pauls House
Before After
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Park Here : Construction
5 sections
r Tree Plante
OSB facing plates attached to the front edge to hide pallets
Internal supp ort frame
t base with Fixed to palle ability st r fo g bracin
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p of screwed to to OSB boards pallets
rneath pallets Shims used unde where required to make up levels
Construction of base OSB to overlap existing pavement 100mm
OSB bo ar pallet jo ds overlap ints
Internal frame to suppor t ornamental shrub plantin g
Shrub Planter
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Park Here : Construction
Marshalls Loci Benches Various sizes including 3 seat, 1 seat and bench with back. 14no. in total.
Artificial Grass
Yellow Paint - Rocol Fusion
Temporary removable marking paint to existing pavement.
OSB Boards
12mm OSB boards screwed down to overlap pallet joints, and overlap existing pavement by 100mm.
Timber Pallets
Pallets cut to fit. 2100mm total width from existing pavement edge. 20no. pallets in total.
Planter / Tree Planter
Bespoke OSB raised planters to create feature barrier to each end of installation. Branding / logo to be created from artificial turf. 4no. in total. (2no. with trees) 29
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Park Here : Animating the space
Reet So After receiving a grant from Leeds Inspired, the Leeds based artist collective Reet So were comissioned to help animate the space. The artist duo worked closely with the DLA Design Group team to design an activity inviting the public to enjoy the temporary public space and ‘sow a seed’ contributing ideas for the future of the street in exchange for a planted seed to take home.
Location of Arch
Dims :
1500mm wide max x 2000mm high max
The arch will stand on a base plate which can be screwed to the boards below, and be bought in overnight.
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Consultation Seating Area
Bespoke Table / Shelving Unit - Covered in artificial grass - Holes in the top to hold plant pots - Storage on shelves underneath
WHATS ON? 13-16 September Sample fresh and tasty temptations from Love Food [Daily 12-1.30] Enjoy wine tastings and samples of unique meats and cheeses courtesy of Wino [Tues 1-2pm] Take part in taster mindfulness and meditation activities with the Jamyang Buddhist Centre [Weds & Thurs 2-3pm] ‘Sow a Seed’ for the future with Leeds based artist collective Reet So [Weds - Fri 10-4] With thanks to LeedsBID Aurous Saxophone Quartet from Leeds College of Music will be playing [Fri 11.30-12.30]
@ parkhereleeds #parkhere parkhereleeds
Local businesses Throughout the process DLA engaged with the neighbouring and local businesses in order to create a programme of activities during the installation. Funding from Leeds Bid enabled us to engage the Aurous Sax Quartet from Leeds College of Music to perform in the space on the final day. Neighbouring businesses, Love Food and Wino, offered free tasters and samples throughout the week and the Jamyang Buddhist Centre offered free meditation activities to help animate the space .
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Park Here : Re-imagining St Paul’s Street
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13th - 16th September 2016
Over 600 visitors engaged with Park Here over the four days
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Park Here : Re-imagining St Paul’s Street
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Reet So : Participation Feedback
Leeds Inspired Funding Gaining funding from Leeds Inspired allowed DLA to engage and integrate Reet So’s ideas in the intervention delivery. Throughout Park Here, they engaged with 200 people and over 100 completed their activity of ‘Sowing a Seed’, suggesting ideas for the future of St Paul’s Street, Leeds and themselves.
The recurring themes for St Paul’s Street from this engagement included : - More bins to contribute to a cleaner street - Brighter colours and more lighting to improve the aesthetics - Improve the quality of the side walks - More focus on cyclists/ pedestrians and less on cars - Widen pavements - Add trees, plants and greenery - In the long term, add more permanent structures to create green spaces - Seating areas for eating lunch / to stop - More temporary food outlets / events - A permanent version of Park Here or similar creating spaces to sit and interact - More varied permanent facilities on the street
The recurring themes for the wider city included :
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- More focus on public transport and pedestrians - Reduce traffic - More affordable parking - More plants and green spaces within urban spaces in the city - Increase the focus of green spaces in future developments - More temporary events and spaces around the city - More events focusing on arts and music - More community focused developments - Reduce smoking in public areas - Increase focus on helping the homeless
Age of participants 20-24
7%0
3%0
25-64
Over 100 participants across 3 days
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Park Here : Re-imagining St Paul’s Street Review
“This year’s intervention has been more successful than we could have ever hoped. The level of interest shown by people locally and passers-by has been phenomenal. From the first day to the last we have had people using and enjoying the space and commenting on how good it would be to see something more permanent. The participation of our neighbours was great to see and really helped create a sense of a developing micro-community spirit. We have also used this temporary installation to engage further with the public and we plan to use this feedback to further the debate on prioritising public realm on St. Pauls Street and more widely across the city.” Mark Bust, Director of DLA Landscape and Urban Design
ed as ir spe e h t duce sent to re e pre d r e e m w e eople rs se ged hen p - Ca w d coura e n s e s t a p layou they rs in the nches e b n use stop e e o h e t T w y t s n be oo bu actio ere t w inter le op ny pe nd - Ma iliar a m a f e on more spac went came e k b e e le w op the - Pe le as b a t r o comf ns
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- The sp ace was more pop warm we ular durin ather g - The in stallatio n was pr busy bet edominan ween 11:3 tly 0 a m - 2pm - It was busiest o n the fir - The ad st day dition of R eet So a business nd local es encou raged m the spac o r e people e into
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PARK HERE: Re-imaginging St Paul’s Street With special thanks to... Leeds City Council for the continued support throughout
Jamyang Buddist Centre for holding a meditation taster session
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Leeds Inspired and Reet So for running the consultation activity throughout the week
Leeds Bid and Leeds College of Music’s Aurous Saxophone Quartet for providing live jazz music
Wino for providing tasters throughout the week
Love Food for providing tasters throughout the week
Urban Planters for providing the trees
TS Booker for providing the timber pallets
Rocol for providing the paint
Marshalls for providing the benches
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Additional Resources World Class Streets : Remaking New York City’s Public Realm, Gehl Architects https://issuu.com/gehlarchitects/docs/issuu_561_new_york_world_class_stre Cities Alive : Rethinking Green Infrastructure, ARUP Leeds Public Realm Design, Ideas and Opportunities, Leeds City Council
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