Interpretation of the physical environment at the street block and neighbourhood level

As a requirement for a Planning 122 (Studio 1) assignment, we were asked to produce and analyse the physical environment of our study area in Ponsonby through developing plans and sections at the "Street/Block" scale. The aim of this assignment is for us to grasp a detailed understanding of how the place works and functions, and at the same time considering its implications. This entry will include an extract of the assignment:

• Selected street block within study area

The selected street block within the study area is rectangular in shape and with the dimensions of approximately 61.5m by 129m. The area of the selected block is 7933.5 square meters or 0.79 hectares. The typical section within the block is rectangular in shape and is deeper within the block with the average size of around 12m by 30m. The more deeper and rectangular shape of the sections within the chosen street block is a design that is efficient in terms of the length of the streets surrounding the block therefore making access from private to public easy accessible. The way the block is designed also provides more frontages to the people. Frontages are especially important when the land use of the buildings within the block is mostly of commercial use. It is because they provide a physical and visual connection between the street and building and therefore allows for more accessibility of people and encourages more commercial use of the buildings. The typical building within the street block has an average size of approximately 216 square meters. The buildings are a mixture of attached and detached as some of the buildings hold two or more shops in it while other buildings is a shop by itself. The footprints within the chosen street block are usually big in relation to the size of its sections. This is because the dwellings within the block have usually no sideyards which mean they are often as wide as the section. The setback of the sections are also not as big probably because they are of commercial use compared to residential buildings where the set back and side yard are big enough. This makes the footprints of a commercial building larger than a footprint of a residential building.

• Typical section from selected street block within Ponsonby study area

The typical section within Ponsonby study area is commonly used commercially as cafes, retail shops or other business institutions. The section selected within the block is rectangular in shape with the size of approximately 20.2m by 31m. The area of the section is 626.2 square metres or 0.06 hectares. The area of the footprint within the section is 330.6 square metres or 0.03 hectares. This makes the percentage of the section taken by the footprint of the building 52.8%. The size of the setback from the street is only 1.6m which is fairly small compared to the setback of residential sections in the study area. The section selected however have sideyard measurements of 2m on the left side for the driveway and 1m on the right side of the section. The backyard of the section which approximately has an area of 208 square metres is used as a parking space. The parking lot has a site coverage of 33.2%. Overall, the total site coverage of the building and parking lot is 86%, leaving only 14% for the driveway and the setback.

• Street type

Cross section 1 was drawn across Redmond Street within the Ponsonby study area. Redmond Street is a busy street because it is where traffic gets diverted from Ponsonby Road to Pompallier Terrace then Redmond Street finally leading to Jervois Road. The function of Redmond Street is to provide one of the main routes to get from Ponsonby Road to Jervois Road therefore resulting for the overcrowding of cars around the area most of the time. The degree of which Redmond Street is enclosed is a lot as the trees are almost as tall as building which adds to the enclosure. Also, the overhang by the side walk further adds to the enclosure of the street. The ambience of the street makes me feel safe around Redmond Street because it is a busy street therefore you can hear congestion noise most of the time. The fact that there is a lot of foot movement and having the Ponsonby police station located on the street gives me that sense of security of Redmond Street. Furthermore, the sense of enclosure around the street also makes me comfortable around the area.

Cross section 2 was drawn across Sheehan Street within the Ponsonby study area. Sheehan Street is a dead end street with Ponsonby Intermediate School at the end of the street. This makes the street busy and congested around 8am and 3pm during the weekdays because school kids mostly walk to and from school therefore making foot traffic congested around that time. However, Sheehan Street is really quiet in between and after school classes and also during the weekends. This makes me feel uncomfortable walking around the street. The degree of enclosure is also less in Sheehan Street than in Redmond Street as the vegetation in the side walk are really short (less than 2m in height) therefore not adding to the sense of enclosure. Overall, I don’t feel safe and secure walking around Sheehan Street because of its lack of enclosure as well as the street having the atmosphere of a very quiet and calm street. Moreover, the fact that Sheehan Street is a dead end street gives me the feeling of the need for more security in the area especially when walking alone at night. The dead end street feature of Sheehan Street also show less connectivity to the whole study area itself and also provides lesser choice of routes to get from one point to Sheehan Street.

The main difference of Redmond Street and Sheehan Street is that Redmond Street is more enclosed defined by the tall trees and the overhang by the sidewalk. Having no setbacks in most of the buildings in Redmond Street also adds to the sense of enclosure as you can see from cross-section 1. Another difference between the two streets is that the road and the sidewalk are wider in Redmond Street mainly because it is designed for cars to divert traffic from Ponsonby Road to Jervois Road and also for people to move around more and therefore increase the level of commercial activity. In conclusion there is a quite obvious difference between the two streets. Sheehan Street being a residential street is quieter in terms of car and foot movement while Redmond Street being a busy commercial street has more congestion in terms of car movement. The degree to which the street is enclosed by buildings and trees is more shown in Redmond Street while Sheehan Street is more exposed.