Unpaved softscape infrastructure of garden streets as a green space for socialising and gathering
Cities deal with a dilemma; on one hand - densification is essential to improve environmental sustainability, and on the other hand it creates a built environment that lacks natural open spaces. Covid19 pandemic highlighted the need for accessible green open spaces for health, wellbeing and socializing. It also created an opportunity to look at our street’s functions from a different perspective. Areas in Tel Aviv are well suited to this phenomenon, being dominated with hardscapes and lack of greenery. This makes them physically uncomfortable during the hot and cold seasons
During the pandemic, Tel Aviv municipality converted 11 streets into pedestrian-only zones to meet Covid19 demands. The municipality’s limited design intervention in those streets created an opportunity for us to implement a wider intervention that benefits the local residents
By breaking the asphalt of the carriageway in those pedestrian-zones, we aim to reverse the streetscape into its original form and create garden streets for local gatheringTurning the streets into green, leafy and park-like can support the local green infrastructure, provide more room for people to gather, areas for children to play and foster public life. With native planting, the garden streets could become a biodiversity hub for native species, support stormwater management and reduce the impact of urban heat islands. It will revive the locals' connection with the outdoors, and observation on the urban nature. A series of garden streets will create eco-connections throughout the cityOur project is based in Tel Aviv’s Florentin st., which is one of the municipality’s new pedestrian-only zones. We propose a segment of 100sqm area, possibly extending to the whole pedestrian street, through the following steps-Reversing the street to its original form: Breaking and scraping up the asphalt of the road, revealing the ground underneath-Reusing the scraped asphalt and converting it to large 20cmx50cm and 100cmx150cm stepping stones-Planting native wildflowers into clusters in the exposed soil, creating a seasonal and diverse urban landscape-Placing pedestrian elements such as picnic tables and bicycle racks through the site-Celebrating the garden street with the local communityStreets are our most accessible assets in a time where new construction is dominating the cities. ‘Depaving and replanting Tel Aviv’ provides the opportunity to take a step back, redesign the streets and put the people in the center
