What is a street profile?
A street profile, also called a street section or street cross-section, is a vertical section through a street drawn from building front to building front. A good street profile includes a slice of the buildings on each side and, between them, front gardens, footways, cycle tracks, parking bays, trees and the carriageway. The Dutch term is straatprofiel.
The street profile is the main tool for sharing out the limited space between buildings. One drawing shows how much width there is and who gets it: pedestrians, cyclists, parked cars, moving traffic or planting. Designers also use it to judge the ratio between building height and street width, which strongly shapes how enclosed a street feels.
In England and Wales, the Department for Transport’s Manual for Streets is the main guidance for residential streets. It treats the street as a place as well as a route, which is exactly what a section drawn wall to wall helps you assess.
Recognising it
A drawing with a building front on both sides and the successive strips of the street in between, usually dimensioned strip by strip. A long section, by contrast, shows the levels along the centreline of the road.
In practice
- Always draw from building to building. Only then can you see whether footways, trees and parking really fit.
- Include parking. A carriageway at the minimum width for two-way traffic often leaves no room for parking on both sides.
- Give trees space above and below ground. A tree needs a proper tree pit and rooting volume, not just a symbol on the drawing.
- Show falls and drainage. Add the crossfall of carriageway and footway towards the channel and gullies.
- For your own project, check the building line and planning rules: a front extension or boundary wall directly affects the street profile.
Common mistake: designing only the carriageway. Footway widths, front gardens and trees drop out of view, and only on site does it become clear that the street is too tight.
Related terms
- Building line
- Tree pit
- Gully
- Mountable kerb
- Channel drain
- Zoning plan
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