Street and city

Bench

Timelesspublic seat · street bench · banca (Spanish)

plazaparkbus stopwide sidewalkschoolyard

A seat for several people placed on the street, in the plaza or in the park.

Solves

What it solves

It allows people to rest, wait and talk in public space. It makes it possible for older people, pregnant women and people with reduced mobility to get around the city on foot.

Today

Place benches with backrests and armrests at regular intervals along pedestrian routes, with free space beside them for a wheelchair or a stroller. In the tropics place them in the shade and use materials that do not heat up.

Common mistake

Designing benches that prevent sitting comfortably or lying down, or placing them in full sun on metal that burns.

Tomorrow

Benches with backrests and armrests every few minutes of walking let older people go out on their own. Made of local timber by area carpenters, they can be repaired piece by piece.

Fact A British guide to inclusive mobility recommends benches no more than 50 m apart on pedestrian routes and seats 47 to 48 cm high.

Where it comes from

1Ancient Greece Delos and Epidaurus, Antiquity
The exedra was a curved stone bench with a high back, placed along sacred ways and in open spaces as a place for conversation.

Masters

Antoni Gaudí Park Güell, Barcelona, Spain, 1914
He designed a long undulating bench with a backrest that fits the body, clad in trencadís with Josep Maria Jujol. It is bench, railing and lookout at once.

Appears in the routes

Sources