Street furniture design philosophies
Traditionally, cost and durability have been the most important factors in the design of street furniture, however, Citysquared views street furniture as an opportunity to contribute to better quality public spaces and provide a positive and pleasurable experience to its users.
In the past street furniture has provided a positive experience by removing a negative one. For example, a bin allows you to dispose of any rubbish you might be carrying, whilst a bench would allow you to rest for a while. What we try to do is to move beyond simply removing an inconvenience and begin to provide a pleasurable experience to the user, in doing this we hope to create positive associations with a particular location. To achieve this we have developed an approach that transfers some of the ideas of pleasure defined by Lionel Tiger in his book “The Pursuit of Pleasure” and applied them to a street furniture context. Below is a brief outline of some of the methods we have used.
Firstly we might add to a users experience of street furniture by increasing the quality of the materials we use, thereby increasing the pleasure that can be derived from the use of an object through it’s physical properties. This is particularly appropriate when we think about the materials that users will actually come into contact with.
We might also think about how the object can help us to interact more positively with others, either within our own social group or though encouraging interaction with others.
Adding to the pleasure of use for some people might include complying with their ethical beliefs; this is particularly relevant when we consider environmental issues and the use of sustainable materials. It may also include judgement on the way in which they perceive public money to have been spent or in some cases they may feel strongly about local supply and manufacture.
The final example of creating a positive experience is the pleasure that can be derived from stimulating thought or emotion. The average person in the street has many things on their mind and drawing them out of their own thoughts requires something unusual or out of the ordinary. Often this may involve a particularly sculptural or eye-catching object or an interesting idea or concept physically manifested.
Achieving our goal of providing a positive experience to an area can often give a competitive edge to a development project. This can increase the use of an area by a targeting a particular demographic or appealing to a sense of civic pride and ultimately contribute to the economic welfare of a location. Well that’s the theory anyway, we continue to develop it in practice.
