A roundabout way of knowing where you are
On a road trip from Al-’Ula to Al WaJ, passing through small towns along the way, two colleagues / girlfriends and I admir-critiqued the different approaches to urban landscape design punctuating our journey. Specifically, we enjoyed the retro median and roundabout designs - some with local colors built into the street lights, a unique set of trees, or a giant water pot as a sculpture - contrasting the camels, donkeys and little Masjids in the desert landscape.
Arguments have been made for greater involvement of landscape architects in the design of the humble traffic circle to avoid kitsch, easily dated or out of touch with local context results, while still performing the ideal functions of punctuating traffic and slowing movement for the safety of all road users.
The town where we are working on enhancing the public realm has adopted an approach of being inspired by its ancient heritage and natural wonder. Much of the landscape design team’s work focuses on sensitively reconnecting the urban form to the natural form - such as through creating dunes on roundabouts that speak to the dunes surrounding us.
As ever, these experiences make me think about home in a new way.
What do our roundabouts tell us? Do you recognize the ones below?
Here are some more roundabouts from different parts of Cape Town:
I recall this moment from a pre-local election debate that I felt didn’t get enough attention and has stuck with me:
My intention here is not to bring up the people having the conversation, but the conversation itself - what does the urban form, including simple elements of the public realm, tell us about where we are?
Who lives in the areas with the landscaped, green or artful circles and who lives in the areas with the grey tarmac (that may blend in with the greyness of the rest of the infrastructure there)?
And the humble roundabout is not only a symbol of all this. Studies have shown that roundabouts with a bit of height and visual interest to them are better for road safety.
I am not advocating for an unsustainable intervention to slap memorabilia on top of every traffic circle.
This is, rather, roundabout way of pointing to the differences we still experience being in different parts of our towns and cities. Whether that’s the circle, the park, the nature of housing or work, the cleanliness, the potholes or the relation of all these elements together - combining to make a welcoming or hostile environment, one with a unique sense of place or one lacking.
What can we tell about the priority and prosperity of a place just by looking at the design of things as basic as a traffic circle?
May you enjoy looking at roundabouts in a new light wherever you are this festive.
And, happy 100 years to Langa, where this roundabout greets the community on Washington Avenue: