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Volume 1
January 2006

Context Sensitive Design: Putting projects in context makes good community sense

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Putting projects in context makes good community sense
Context Sensitive Design balances time, money, safety with aesthetics and values

Placing a roundabout in the middle of a historic neighborhood or designing a bridge to connect a nature preserve to a downtown area undergoing revitalization may present a host of challenges or opportunities, depending upon who you talk to and when.

That’s why more and more communities, counties and state organizations turn to Context Sensitive Design (CSD) to help ensure proposed projects fit within the context of their environment, which in turn generates public support.

CSD sets out a process to balance safety, cost, standards and effectiveness with aesthetics, the environment, history and community values.

Designers, planners and engineers naturally approach projects differently. Take a bridge project. A designer may strive to ensure that the bridge’s spans and entry ramps are well-scaled to the surrounding topography. A transportation planner may focus on the bridge’s ability to handle increased traffic and to provide improved safety features. A structural engineer’s focus may be in the calculations of the bridge’s wind-resistance and in its innovative tensile structure. All play a role, but lack the additional insight needed to “raise the bar” and achieve design excellence.

CSD helps accomplish that by taking each of these views one step further by factoring in the ideas and values of the historian, the environmentalist, the architect, the maintenance crew, the regulatory agencies, the City staff and most importantly, the community.

Traditionally, the design process generally emphasizes economics and utility without considering community values and context. Processes that aren’t based on meaningful public involvement, planning and contextually based design can cost community officials the trust of citizens, increase costs with project revisions, and may even detract from the community’s ability to attract new businesses and tourists. Though hard to measure, such quality-of-life issues are critical for a community’s long-term competitiveness and prosperity.

“CSD definitely requires a greater level of coordination, which can lead to increased up-front design costs,” SEH Engineer George Walton said. “However, solid upfront planning involving key stakeholders actually helps clients make better use of both their time and money.”

“Often, if a project is getting delayed due to controversy and rework, it’s because the right mix of stakeholders weren’t involved early on,” SEH Engineer Mark Benson said. “Generally [with CSD] the overall public involvement does not increase, it just happens sooner when it’s easier to make changes.” With CSD, a process that can be contentious or divisive instead becomes an avenue for achieving a variety of goals and needs.

CSD existed long before it had a name
Some architects and planners argue that CSD existed long before it had an official name. Take New York’s Central Park. Incorporating the varying needs of impacted stakeholders, landscape architects have been planning design-sensitive roads since at least the 1850s when Frederic Law Olmsted planned gently undulating carriageways and separated trails that responded to Central Park’s rocky topography.

Newly passed federal legislation requires CSD on federally funded transportation projects

The recent passage of the Federal Transportation Act of 2005 requires CSD on federally funded transportation projects of more than $20 million. The US 14/61/WIS 35 Corridor Planning Study, a future multi-million-dollar project in La Crosse, Wis., did not officially require CSD; however, WisDOT incorporated CSD elements as part of the long-term plan for the corridor to ensure the project meets community needs and stays within the context of its environment.

“The new federal requirement of CSD will benefit communities with highway routes traversing their main streets, as they have a voice to help ensure they don’t lose their identity to road expansion projects,” SEH Director of Urban Design Bob Kost said. “In Minnesota, Wisconsin and Colorado, state DOTs have all worked with consultants to apply the CSD process to transportation projects affecting local business owners, parks and neighborhoods.”

Stakeholders Vision

City of Minneapolis Project Manager Stephanie Malmberg, PE, credits the Loring Bridge Bikeway public involvement process for delivering a project that truly reflects the stakeholders’ vision. “The neighborhood wanted to use aesthetic details to convey the idea of motion,” Malmberg said. “The neighborhood also liked the idea of the one-sided view of the bridge that helped further the vision to have this bikeway serve as a gateway into the City.”

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