An Innovative Approach to Main Street Design

Oct 1

Revitalizing main streets through community engagement and testing of design ideas

By: Stantec Consulting Ltd.

:When Stantec’s design team has the pleasure to embark on a main street revitalization project, they see an opportunity to create a safe, vibrant, and accessible space for the community. Although each main street is unique, we apply a proven approach to ensure its success: robust stakeholder and community engagement, testing of design ideas, and the prioritization of space based on community needs.

Community feedback is what makes each street unique. Having meaningful conversations, asking the right questions, and listening to users of the space, including the business owners, community associations, visitors, and residents, is fundamental to the design process. COVID-19 has presented an opportunity to use new online platforms to gauge feedback on design ideas, gather detailed analysis, and ask community questions. In many ways, this tweaked approach yields for more feedback and detailed results, especially from individuals that may not normally provide feedback.

Once a preliminary design is in place, the next step is testing, ranging from closing a street section of street to determine impacts on vehicular movement, to adding pop-up features such as temporary seating, public art, or a stage into the public realm. By seeing how the community interacts with the space, our team can make appropriate recommendations for effective and sustainable design.

Our design approach is currently being used on three active projects: The City of Calgary Main Streets 33/34 Avenue SW; Festival Square with the City of Lethbridge; and the Central Avenue Main Street Revitalization project with the City of Prince Albert.

Details

Budget:

Festival Square - Lethbridge: Full development of Festival Square will be approximately $600,000 construction value.
Marda Loop - Calgary: Full development of Marda Loop is budgeted to be $31.6 million, the BRT Plaza, currently under construction is budgeted at $500,000.
Central Avenue - Prince Albert: $50,000 for design | $15 million construction value for full implementation.

Materials and fabrication:

Festival Square - Lethbridge: The main materials in the ultimate development will be stamped and coloured concrete, a steel entranceway arch, steel light poles and string lighting, seating areas, a concrete stage platform, and various softscapes including trees and moveable planters.
Marda Loop - Calgary: The BRT plaza includes stamped and coloured concrete, plantings, new seating opportunities, noise barriers, and significant landscaping.
Central Avenue - Prince Albert: The urban space is currently defined as a street with parking. Stage 1 of development will include the use of temporary structures within the plaza areas that mimic ultimate design locations. This initial stage will confirm the popularity and use of elements prior to making a large capital investment.