STREETSCAPE GUIDANCE

HOME
INTRODUCTION
PART A
A vision for London’s streets
PART B
From strategy to delivery
PART C
New measures for new challenges
PART D
Balancing priorities
PART F
Appendix
PART E
Physical design and materials
SECTION 6
Introduction
SECTION 7
High quality footways
SECTION 8
Carriageways
SECTION 9
Crossings
SECTION 10
Kerbside activity
SECTION 11
Footway amenities
SECTION 12
Safety and functionality
SECTION 13
Street environment
SECTION 14
Transport interchanges
Streetscape Guidance
• Set priorities for different streets and roads,
and make trade-offs accordingly
• Reflect changing functions and aspirations as
streets and areas change
• Identify the tools that may be appropriate
locally to deliver change
• Balance place-specific needs with the overall
function of the network
• Establish the need for intervention at a
strategic level to keep London moving
Figure 15: Oxford Street busy with traffic and
pedestrians
2.4 Street Types for London
In 2013, the Mayor’s RTF recommended that TfL
and boroughs collaborate to:
• Look at streets not just as corridors that move
people, but as places which contribute to the
Capital as a key part of the public realm
• Use a new concept called the ‘Street Family’
to understand the relative balance between
those movement and place functions at key
locations across London
We committed to further develop the Street
Family concept, collaborate with interested
boroughs and through that build an agreed
picture of the road network in terms of the
function of each street. It was felt this would
help all highway authorities to understand how
well streets were performing relative to their
existing function. Most importantly, it would
highlight to all interested parties where the
mismatch between form and function was
limiting a location from realising its potential,
and allow transport schemes to directly unlock
those benefits on a case-by-case basis.
In early 2014, we piloted six case studies
to determine the most efficient method of
translating the Street Family on to London’s
road network. A final method was developed
and titled Street Types for London (STfL). This
was approved by TfL Surface Directors and
[Part A] A vision for London’s streets 13
Figure 16: Street Types matrix
London Councils’ Transport and Environment
sub-Committee (TEC), and in September
2014 a series of workshops began with every
participating borough.
The original RTF concept used labels for each
category on the matrix; these evolved via the
case studies to include identifiers for each tier of
movement and place. This emphasised that STfL
is a functional construct with shorthand labels
rather than descriptive identifiers, for example, a
location labelled ‘High road’ actually referenced
a location classified as high for movement (M3)
and medium for place (P2), so M3/P2.