Towards sustainable streets design: Indicator system of sustainable evaluation for Shanghai streets

The streets are one of the most significant system in urban areas under the background of Climate Change and the transformation of China's high-density built environment. With the problem of a lack of practical evaluation tool to guide the street design in a comprehensive and effective way, this research aims to build an indicator evaluation system for sustainable streets in Shanghai to provide suggestions for street design. Firstly, the research established the theoretical basis of sustainable street design and an evaluation framework of sustainable streets by literature review. The investigations of 236 streets in Shanghai and the questionnaire survey of 50 experts were conducted to apply the evaluation framework, to assess the overall performance of Shanghai streets, and to construct a set of indicator evaluation system for sustainable streets in Shanghai. Three streets were evaluated by the established system. The evaluation results were compared with the questionnaires’ data of 50 street users to examine the accuracy and objectivity of the system. Finally, 4 experts who were famous in the fields of street design, research and management in Shanghai were interviewed. The interview outcomes were integrated with the whole research findings so as to optimise the evaluation system. The key findings included: 1) the theoretical basis of sustainable street design, including the definition, 3 principles, 15 design objectives and a set of toolkits with 75 design methods; 2) an indicator evaluation system for sustainable streets in Shanghai, including 15 evaluation criteria and 32 evaluation indicators, a set of standardisation methods and weighting system, and a package of calculation formulas; and 3) an overall assessment of Shanghai streets and some useful suggestions for future renovations of Shanghai streets. With the research outcomes, it promoted the theoretical development of sustainable street design and filled the academic gaps. Also, it provided a set of design toolkits to promote the practice of sustainable street design, which were not only a framework for comprehensive thinking but also a useful manual for street design. Finally, the research delivered a set of sustainable evaluation tool for Shanghai streets, and its framework and the construction method could be expanded to other cities and regions. This is a tool to measure the sustainability, not only helping the designer to identify issues and find solutions, but also helping decision-makers to compare different schemes and quantify their selections.