One city that wants to see more, not less, plastic in its streets

A competition spearheaded by NE1 Ltd., which manages the Newcastle Business Improvement District, and the Royal Institute of British Architects invited "street-wise designers," in the words of Chronicle Live, to suggest improvements to the city landscape, notably public benches, waste receptacles, and bollards (i.e., those posts on pedestrian-only streets that restrict the passage of cars). Medical Architecture, a Newcastle firm that designs healthcare buildings, won the Streetscape Challenge. The company proposed modifying granite slabs in one part of the city by adding "warm-to-the-touch molded timber/plastic composite material for the seat, back, and arm rest," writes Chronicle Live. The idea came from a poll that Medical Architecture conducted among local residents, many of whom are senior citizens.

"We did a survey before the competition looking at how people used the street furniture in Newcastle city centre, with the emphasis on older people," Medical Architecture Director Paul Yeomans told Chronicle Live. "The number of older people in the UK is rising dramatically, particularly in the age group of 80 years and above. As we grow older our physical condition weakens, our eyesight deteriorates, we develop an unsteady gait, our posture changes, our mobility is affected." The urban landscape needs to adjust, he intimates.

In addition to retrofitting the granite slabs with the molded material, Yeoman's firm also reconfigured the street furniture at varying heights and in a range of seating arrangements and made the signage more user friendly by positioning it at eye-level and using pictograms instead of large amounts of text.

The article doesn't mention why a large amount of explanatory text is needed for an outdoor seat; whatever the reason, pictograms are an improvement for all demographics in my book.

— Norbert Sparrow

Norbert Sparrow is Senior Editor at PlasticsToday. Follow him on twitter @norbertcsparrow and Google+.