In the first blog of 2024, we take a look at design guides that build resilience into the streetscape which have won CIHT Awards.
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The design of streets can play a key role in creating climate resilience.
There are many ways to create climate resilient streets, including:
In this article we will take a look at some of the 2023 CIHT Award winners as examples of how resilience can be built into our streets.
The effects of climate change are worsening, with extreme weather events such as flooding and heatwaves becoming more frequent and intense.
In terms of transportation, the effects of these extreme weather events can result in cancelled public transport, fallen trees, buckling roads, melting asphalt, sinkholes and more. This can often lead to closed roads, stranded passengers, congestion, delays to supply chains and costly repair schemes.
To mitigate this, our transportation networks need to become more resilient to extreme weather events.
CIHT defines resilience (adapted from Deeming, 2021) as:
The capacity of a system to effectively manage and withstand extreme weather conditions and/or hazardous weather events, while responding or reorganizing in a way that enables the uninterrupted provision of critical transportation services to both the economy and local communities, while maintaining the ability to adapt and innovate.
As stated in our report on Green and Blue Infrastructure (GBI) the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation defines GBI as:
Natural and semi-natural features, interventions, and structures that provide functions and benefits for an area.
The “green” component refers to a wide range of green features including planters, street trees, green roofs, green walls, pocket parks and parklets.
The “blue” component includes rivers, canals, ponds, rain gardens, swales, filter strips, which are all integrated into the management train of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS).
In our GBI report, CIHT highlighted the importance of GBI for climate resilience as GBI features provide street cooling and flood defence.
To encourage GBI to be considered in designs, we recommended that local authorities:
Lambeth’s Kerbside Strategy, winner of the 2023 CIHT Sustainability Award, is a great example of how GBI has been included within a formal design guide for the streetscape.
Despite Lambeth having one of the lowest car ownership rates in London, with just 2 in 5 households owning a car, 94% of the kerbside in Lambeth is currently dedicated to the parking and movement of motor vehicles.
Produced by Lambeth Council, Lambeth’s Kerbside Strategy seeks to change how the space on streets is used, focusing on four priorities:
Under their priority to increase climate change resilience, Lambeth Council recognised that not everyone who lives and works in Lambeth will experience climate change equally or fairly:
The elderly and the very young, and those of us who are poorer, female, disabled, or part of a minority whether through race or sexuality, are disproportionately likely to live or spend time in environments that are more vulnerable to climate risks, and have fewer resources available to prepare for, adapt to and recover from climate shocks.
To combat this, Lambeth Council acknowledged that streets are the main area they can adapt to protect people from a changing and less predictable climate (Lambeth’s kerbside stretches an impressive 579,000 linear metres - the same distance from Lambeth to Edinburgh).
The Kerbside Strategy includes ‘Lambeth Kerbside Basics’ which are minimum expectations for every street across the borough.
In terms of building climate resilience, the Lambeth Kerbside Basics are:
>>> CIHT Members can view the Lambeth Kerbside Strategy award entry here
A recent UNICEF report has shown that children have great transformative potential for increasing resilience, climate change adaptation and sustainable development. The report concluded that early childhood education programs play a strategic role in combating climate change and protecting the environment.
Such childhood education programs have already shown success in the UK, for example the ‘SuDS for Schools’ initiative which have taught children about the need for sustainable surface water management.
The Designing Streets for Kids guide, winner of the 2023 CIHT Streets Award and Highly Commended in the 2023 CIHT Sustainability Award, shares similar principles. By focusing on the needs of children in the urban environment, green areas are included in street design which improves climate resilience and provides children with an opportunity to connect with, and learn about, the benefits of nature.
Created by the Global Designing Cities Initiative, ‘Designing Streets for Kids’ is a supplement to the National Association of City Transportation Officials’ Global Street Design Guide (GSDG), which sets a new global baseline for designing urban streets. Designing Streets for Kids builds upon the approach of putting people first, with a particular focus on the specific needs of children and their caregivers as pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users in urban streets around the world.
At it’s core, this design guide recognizes that children are best served when they are able to fully use their urban streets, not just parks and playgrounds. Prioritising children means that streets are safer and more comfortable, beautiful, and enjoyable for all people.
In terms of environmental resilience, the design guide points out that by prioritising children you also:
>>> CIHT Members can view the Designing Streets for Kids award entry here
Last year, CIHT hosted a roundtable on overcoming skills gaps for the integration of SuDS. Through this, it was identified that professionals must collaborate to share information and synchronise the end-to-end process of designing and implementing SuDS, which also applies to other GBI features used to create climate resilient streets.
To ensure that GBI features such as hedgerows, street trees, SuDS, pocket parks etc., are successfully implemented, consultation with necessary experts needs to happen early on in the planning and design process.
The Suffolk Design: Streets Guide, shortlisted for the 2023 CIHT Streets Award, is an example of a design guide that includes specific steps for consulting with GBI experts during the design process for streets.
In 2019, every local authority in Suffolk declared or acknowledged a climate emergency.
After identifying that street design plays a significant role in combating climate change, Suffolk County Council worked with Stantec to develop the ‘Suffolk Design: Streets guide’. This guide bridges the gap between national and local guidance and can be used to deliver streets that reflect broader objectives, one of which being climate resilience.
Suffolk County Council’s design guide stated that:
Streets will need greater resilience to deal with the challenges of climate change and the extreme weather associated with it. Increasing urban resilience must always be considered on both a macro and micro levels. At the macro level new places and streets add stresses to existing networks, such as highways and drainage. These systems must be resilient enough to cope with any additional demands. On the micro level, designers must consider how the physical form, such as street layouts, orientations, and geometry impact urban resilience.
To ensure the council’s objectives are met, the design guide includes a design management process for streets, which provides designers with an eleven-stage checklist from inception to completion.
Within the site analysis and design evolution stages of the design management process, the guide identifies key GBI experts to consult with, including:
>>> CIHT Members can view the Suffolk Design: Streets Guide award entry here
The CIHT Awards is an annual global competition that can provide the work you are most proud of with the international recognition it deserves. The awards celebrate your innovative work, what it takes to be the best and the incredible benefits your work and the highways and transportation sector bring to society.
Your role is to produce incredible work, our role is to celebrate best practice, promote your professionalism and give it the biggest stage.
>>> Click here to enter your project for the 2024 CIHT Awards
Join CIHT's first lunchtime webinar of 2024 about resilience to extreme weather events in the highways and transportation sector.
You will hear from leading experts on how the transport sector can respond quickly and effectively when infrastructure and services are disrupted due extreme weather conditions.
Don't miss the opportunity to take part in our live Q&A session where you can ask our guest speakers your questions.
>>> Click here to register for our CIHT Masterclass – Resilience
Would you like to be involved with CIHT’s current policy project ‘Resilience and adaptation to extreme weather conditions in the highways sector ’? Email technical@ciht.org.uk for more information.
For enquiries about the 2024 CIHT Awards please contact awards@ciht.org.uk
For any press enquires please contact communications@ciht.org.uk
For any technical enquiries please contact technical@ciht.org.uk
Join other savvy professionals just like you at CIHT. We are committed to fulfilling your professional development needs throughout your career
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