Abstract

Street furniture, objects and facilities located in urban public spaces to provide various public services and functions, is receiving increasing emphasis in today’s urban landscapes, with tight requirements as to its quality. Although a comparatively small element of the urban landscape, street furniture has a significant influence on the urban environment and urban life that it is largely placed in different urban areas and closely interacts with people—users—with different needs, wants, and preferences. <p> As part of the urban landscape, street furniture design is necessary to consider the principles of unity and identity to achieve quality urban environment and urban life. In addition to physical function, street furniture could be designed to merge with its surroundings for a harmonious scene, and to represent the characteristics of its location and users for maintaining regionalism. </p><p> Based on the findings of empirical studies, this paper discusses the importance, reasons for and details of the principles of unity and identity, and also the correlations between them. The paper also discusses the implementation of the two principles in street furniture design through cases studies. They are the collaborative streetscape and street furniture design projects of Kok Cheung Street and Shanghai Street in Hong Kong, including research methods, design process, and evaluation process.</p>