7 simple landscape designs that make cities better for everyone

At Santa Monica’s Tongva Park, paths are extra wide and sloped, allowing everyone easy accessibility. Lighting throughout the park is relatively consistent, too, making it feel more comfortable for people on the autism spectrum. [Photo: Tim Street-Porter/courtesy ASLA]

More at Tongva Park: The public bathroom has been transformed into a large sculpture, visible to anyone anywhere in the park. Clear lines of sight allow people with disabilities to better assess an area, and anticipate their needs in it, allowing them to enjoy their time more. [Photo: Tim Street-Porter/courtesy ASLA]

At the Buehler Enabling Garden at the Chicago Botanical Garden, flower and plant beds are raised to different heights, allowing people in wheelchairs to enjoy the garden. It also allows people with low vision to get a closer look at the plants to appreciate them and opens up a line of sight for people using sign language. [Photo: Clare Cooper Marcus/courtesy ASLA]

At the Jackson Street Reconstruction in St. Paul, bumpy paving signals to people with low vision that they’re about to cross a road or bike lane. There’s a middle island between a bike path and car lane that’s full of greenery for people to rest, while creating a safety buffer between cyclists and drivers. [Photo: Toole Design/courtesy ASLA]

At the Portland Mall, brightly lit transit stops are set up on the city’s light rail system, which increases their visibility to vehicles and people with low vision. Note the chairs with actual armrests. Those rests can be key for older adults to safely get in and out of the seat. [Photo: ZGF Architects LLP/courtesy ASLA]

At first glance, the Portland Memory Garden looks like like any other garden. But its round path is built for people suffering from dementia, allowing them to walk without getting lost. Plants with strong smells, placed strategically near exits or turns, can also be a good trigger to help people find their way through parks. [Photo: Brian Bainnson/courtesy ASLA]

Dilworth Park is a public plaza at Philadelphia’s City Hall. Originally below grade, it was hard to reach because you had to take stairs to get there. So the designers raised it to road height to make it more accessible to all types of visitors. The park also has a water feature, made with a material that doesn’t get slippery when wet. [Photo: Sahar Coston-Hardy/courtesy ASLA]

The Americans with Disabilities Act ensures that people living with various physical and mental challenges can make their way around cities. But just because you can technically get somewhere doesn’t mean it’s a pleasant experience. People in wheelchairs are still a third more likely to be killed by cars than walking pedestrians. Elderly people can struggle to find a place to rest. And kids with developmental challenges might be overstimulated by activity around them.

That’s why the American Society of Landscape Architects, a professional organization for 15,000 landscape architects in the United States, has just published a guide to applying universal design principles—or designing for everyone—in parks, streets, and other public spaces. Better still, the guide is rich with examples of cities that have done things right.

Take a look at the slideshow above to see how design can make our cities a more pleasant place for everyone to live. Notably, the changes aren’t even always that hard to make. Sometimes you just need wider paths, some well-placed plants, and a softer touch with light and color. Such updates aren’t necessarily that costly, they just require the intent and concern of city planners to do things right. To learn more, check out the full guide online.

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