B3.3.1 Ensuring easy navigability

Designs must incorporate, from the outset, features that support clear and intuitive wayfinding. Applicants must demonstrate the urban design strategies and tools used to achieve this within the layout. This could include strategies such as creating clear visual sightlines, using distinctive landmarks or gateways, utilising varied building forms, and creating logical and appropriate street hierarchies.

Proposed development layouts must be structured around a clear hierarchy of streets and spaces that reflect the relevant street type as listed in B4 under List 3. This hierarchy must prioritise efficient movement and strong connectivity for all users, ensuring safe, direct and legible routes throughout the development and linking seamlessly to the surrounding area.

Proposed street designs must maintain a positive design language throughout the development to ensure legibility and create a clear, recognisable street network.

Applicants must reference the Local Character and Contextual Assessment (C1.2 and G1.2 where applicable) when selecting materials, colours, and styles for pathways, signage, and landscaping to reinforce local identity and enhance wayfinding.

Exceptions:

• in major developments, it may be appropriate to include a variety of street design palettes which align with proposed character areas to help establish distinct neighbourhood identities and support intuitive wayfinding through visual cues

• deviations from local materials, colours, or styles may be acceptable if the proposed alternatives demonstrate higher quality or make a positive contribution to the character of the area

Where wayfinding signage is provided, it must be clear, legible, and designed at a scale suitable for pedestrian use. See best practice guidance including Traffic Signs Manual (TSM) (Department for Transport, 2018), and Inclusive Mobility A Guide to Best Practice on Access to Pedestrian and Transport Infrastructure (Department for Transport, 2021).

When designing new developments, dementia-friendly principles should be applied as outlined in the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Dementia-ready housing design criteria for general needs housing. Simple measures such as creating easy-to-navigate ‘wayfinder’ streets, using different door colours along a street, and incorporating thoughtfully coloured paving can make environments more welcoming and easier to understand for people living with dementia.

Intuitive wayfinding should be achieved through the use of integrated design features that help users easily understand and navigate the layout. These may include:

• statement buildings that serve as focal points or anchors within the development

• corner markers to define key junctions and aid orientation

• prominent facades that draw the eye and help signal important routes or spaces

• memorable public spaces that support mental mapping and spatial awareness

• vistas that provide long views and reinforce visual connectivity

• gateways that mark transitions between different character areas or neighbourhoods

• orientation points, such as public art, seating areas, or distinctive landscape features

• avenues and formal approaches that signal primary routes through hierarchy and scale

• memorable features along the street to create a legible sequence of experiences, supporting intuitive movement throughout the development

These elements should work together to build a coherent mental map for users, particularly in larger or more complex layouts.

Proposed streets should be clearly defined, offering unobstructed views either to the end of the street or to a prominent orientation feature (such as a distinctive landmark) that supports intuitive wayfinding. Additionally, streetscapes should include at least one distinctive feature or landmark to aid orientation and reinforce intuitive navigation.

Proposed streets (particularly Primary Distributor, Secondary Main Streets, Industrial Major Routes and other higher-order streets (as listed within B4, street hierarchy, List 3)) should be clearly defined, offering unobstructed views either to the end of the street, a key vista, or a prominent orientation feature such as a distinctive landmark or a key corner plot. These elements support intuitive wayfinding and help users navigate the area more easily.

Streetscapes should include at least one distinctive feature or landmark to aid orientation and reinforce legibility. Examples of such features could include public art, landmark buildings, unique landscaping, street furniture, or gateway elements.

For Local Residential streets (as listed within B4, street hierarchy, List 3), while these features may be less critical, maintaining clear sightlines and subtle wayfinding cues is still encouraged to support legibility and ease of movement.

Hard surfacing materials and street furniture should respond sensitively to the local context and, where feasible, be sourced locally or nationally, with an emphasis on provenance, durability, and ready availability.

At detailed design stage, applicants should provide clear palettes for:

• hard landscape materials: specifying textures, colours, laying patterns (bonds), and sourcing methods

• street furniture: specifying proposed types, materials, finishes, colours, fixings, and sourcing methods, and demonstrating how these choices complement both the hard landscaping and the local character

The selection of hard surfacing materials and street furniture should be informed by the Local Character and Contextual Assessment (C1.2 and G1.2, where relevant) and should include a clear rationale for the proposed choices, showing their intended locations and specific functions across the site.