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Topics > Street design
Bollards: design feature or clutter?
The main purpose of bollards is to prevent vehicles from being driven or parked on footways. Other purposes include guarding against ram-raids (of sensitive buildings and spaces), providing power supply (as in market places and for electric vehicle charging), and controlling access (with removable or lowering bollards). They can also be used to demarcate the space for different road users, for example by separating a cycle lane from general traffic lanes.
There are hundreds of designs. Some convey the identity of an area or town. Some are distinctive or decorative. Most are just functional; a few have novelty value.
Bollards are disliked by many in the world of architecture and urban design, because they intrude on the scene and interrupt the space. But there may be no alternative way of preventing people driving vehicles into pedestrian space, or parking indiscriminately.
Bollards alongside the carriageway may help to reduce driving speeds, by introducing a vertical element close by, and thus reducing the "optical width" of the street. Bollards can also give the impression of a street being "populated", especially at night, and this in turn may tend to reduce driver speeds.
Bollards provide effective "soft separation" of the footway and carriageway, allowing pedestrians kerb-free movement across the street, whilst keeping drivers in their place.
In areas where there are effective parking controls, bollards may be unnecessary. In other areas, kerbs may be sufficient, but bollards are effective in preventing footway parking. In this sense bollards are a physical response to a lack of regulation or lack of enforcement. Of course if all drivers respected pedestrian space and stayed off it, there would be no need either for regulations or bollards.
