Guides, objectives and indicators for the design of urban corridor roads

The MORE Project brings together urban street designers from all over Europe and provides the unique opportunity to discuss guidance material on urban street design in local languages as well as to gather background information about how this material is generated and used in daily planning practice.

The recently published report “Urban Corridor Road Design: Guides, Objectives and Performance Indicators” provides a comprehensive review of guidelines and further material for various European countries and, in particular detail, for the MORE city and country partners of Budapest, Constanta, Lisbon, London, and Malmö. This includes information about the scope of the material, the degree of obligation, and the policies and institutions that are in place for developing this guidance material. Further material was provided by the technical partners of MORE such as ECF, IFP and PTV and gives insights on their specific perspectives and practices.

Regarding the street classification, the “Link” and “Place” system is a more comprehensive two-dimensional street classification with “link” representing the movement function and “place” representing street-based activities (see figure below). Within the guidance material, guidance for link functions of streets and particularly for motorised vehicles are more consistent and clearer than guidance for the active modes walking and cycling. Guidance on cycling provision is characterised by particular dynamics; new cycling guidelines have been discussed or approved in all MORE cities/countries in the time period of preparing the deliverable. This shows the high priority that the promotion of cycling has in all the researched cities and countries. Pedestrians are positioned high in the hierarchy of street users but have the lowest levels of detail and consistency in the researched guidance material. Particularly for place functions, little information was found.

Pictured above: Exemplary Design Options for Streets according to the Link and Place Function (Transport for London 2016).

Beside of infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists, information on provisions for public transport, motorised vehicles and kerbside activities were gathered to contribute to the development of tools for urban street design and also to the city case studies. A comprehensive collection of design objectives and performance indicators, included in the report, is base of the evaluation of the city case studies.

This report is intended to support the MORE partners and further the engagement of stakeholders in urban street design. It should enable the mutual understanding and exchange of practices and experiences for improving approaches for urban street design in each individual context and study area.

To access the full report “Urban Corridor Road Design: Guides, Objectives and Performance Indicators”, click here.