What is street furniture?

Street furniture plays a crucial role in shaping communities and urban environments, blending functionality with aesthetics to create inviting and practical public spaces. From benches and bike racks to streetlights and shelters, these elements enhance accessibility, safety, and community engagement. 

Whether you’re resting on a park bench, locking up your bike, or waiting at a bus stop, street furniture is an integral part of daily life. But what exactly qualifies as street furniture, and how does it contribute to the look and feel of a public space? 

In this guide, we’ll explore the different types of street furniture, the materials used to craft them, and how they impact public spaces – creating a more inclusive and enjoyable community experience for everyone.

What is street furniture?

Street furniture refers to various movable or fixed objects – typically along streets, pathways or in parks – designed to enhance the functionality, safety, and aesthetics of public spaces. Street furniture can enhance public spaces in a more community-focused way too, encouraging social interaction and promoting inclusivity and accessibility, making outdoor public areas easier and more enjoyable to use.  

Different types of street furniture

When you think of the word “furniture”, you may refer to things found in your home or garden, like seating and tables. However, public street furniture can refer to a wide range of outdoor public installations, including: 

1. Benches

These are seating options placed along pavements, in parks, or near bus stops, providing rest for people going about their days. These could be more industrial designs, like wrought iron memorial benches, or wooden pieces, like community picnic tables. 

2. Lamp posts and lighting

Streetlights that illuminate roads, pavements, and other public areas are considered to be street furniture. These installations are strategically placed, increasing community safety and visibility at night.

3. Rubbish bins

Like in your home, rubbish bins are a crucial piece of furniture needed in public spaces. These containers are placed strategically for the disposal of waste, ensuring cleanliness in public spaces – making them more aesthetic and usable for the community.

4. Bike racks

Bike racks are becoming even more common in public spaces, designed to securely lock bicycles and provide a safe place for cyclists to leave their bikes. These can help to encourage cycling in urban spaces, promoting a greener and healthier community lifestyle.

5. Traffic control

Traffic control measures, including traffic lights, signs, bollards and traffic barriers, are all considered street furniture. These contribute to the control of traffic flow and keep pedestrians safe in urban spaces – especially in busy and commercial areas.

6. Public utilities

Public utilities, such as phone boxes, drinking fountains, community libraries, vending machines, and even charging stations are street furniture. These help to make areas more usable for the community, removing limitations of leaving the home and encouraging people to go out and enjoy public spaces.

7. Parking and bus stops

Parking metres and pay and display machines, typically found by the side of roads or within car parks, provide greater access for people to use public spaces. Bus stops are also considered to be street furniture installations – encouraging a greener living and less reliance on private transport. 

8. Memorials and art

Art has often been known to bring people together, especially in communities where memorials and art speak to the demographic – historically or culturally. These can include public sculptures, statues and memorial plaques, which embrace the community in which they are installed. 

9. Green installations 

Green installations, like planters, living roofs on top of bus stops and community gardens, are street furniture. Whilst they may seem like a natural part of the area’s ecosystem, these have been strategically placed to make communities greener and more aesthetically pleasing.

Materials used in street furniture 

Street furniture can be made from a wide range of materials, depending on the design of the piece, its intended use and exposure to the elements. Here’s all the different materials street furniture can be constructed with: 

1. Wood

Wood can be an incredibly versatile and sustainable material used in street furniture, often used for benches, seating and tables, along with other more innovative pieces like community libraries. 

Hardwoods, such as teak, oaks, iroko and mahogany, are naturally durable and weather-resistant woods, but you may also find treated softwoods, like pine or cedar, used too. Reclaimed or composite woods may also be used, for more sustainably-focused and low-maintenance street furniture installations. 

2. Metal

For more hard-wearing street furniture, like public bins, street lighting, and traffic control measures – alongside most electronic street furniture, such as vending machines and telephone boxes – metal is used. 

Depending on the piece, you can often find stainless steel, aluminium and cast iron used in street furniture. These metals are often naturally, or treated to be, corrosion-resistant – making them perfect for outdoor use and more contemporary-looking in urban spaces. 

3. Concrete

Concrete can be used all over public spaces, from benches and bollards to planters. This is because concrete, whether it’s precast or reinforced, is often a lot stronger than other materials and easily customisable for the need of the piece – especially in set structures. 

4. Plastics, composites and glass

For more lightweight, low-maintenance installations and structures, plastics, composites and glass can be a popular choice for street furniture. From recycled plastics and resin, to fiberglass and tempered glass, these materials can be used to create custom designs on smaller budgets – like shelters, kiosks, information boards and signage.  

5. Stone

From seating to sculptures, stone – like granite, marble and limestone – can be a highly durable and visually appealing material used in street furniture. It can also help to bring a more natural element to an otherwise urbanised landscape. 

The future of street furniture

The future of street furniture is already becoming a reality in many places. From Wi-Fi hotspots to solar-powered charging stations and street lighting, technological integrations into street furniture are making public spaces even more accessible to the community, along with turning them into multifunctional installations. 

Are you considering bespoke CNC services for your street furniture? Get in touch today to see how our timber experts can support your next community project, helping you transform public spaces with one-of-a-kind pieces. Learn more about our work for inspiration on everything we do at Handrail Creations.