When we visit a place like a park, amusement park, or even a shopping mall, what sorts of
things can we expect to see? To an extent, it will probably depend on where you’re visiting. However, there are some standards that we can come to expect pretty much across the board.
The two main facets that most of these property owners need to think about are directing foot traffic and security. Of course, safety also falls into that “security” bubble, so you can probably start to see where we’re going with this. Are there any ways to metaphorically kill two birds with one stone here?
Thankfully, the answer to that question is “yes.” You can even read more about that here: https://www.pps.org/article/safetysecurity/. For now, though, we’ll be focusing specifically on bollards. Not sure what those are? Be sure to stick around to learn more!
What are Bollards?
The first thing that we’re here to cover is pretty simple: what are bollards anyway? They come in a few different shapes and sizes, but their main purpose remains the same: to help direct foot traffic and to control crowds so that everyone who visits can stay safe and secure. No matter what type of property we’re talking about, if you know that there will be crowds visiting, it may be a good idea to look into them.
They’ve come in a lot of different materials throughout the years as well. Wood was pretty common for a while, but these days, for a security bollard you’re much more likely to see them made out of concrete instead. Throughout the years, they’ve come to replace a lot of the temporary options.
Most of us probably think of traffic cones when we think about options to help prevent crowding, but the reality is that these aren’t very efficient. For one thing, they often just plain don’t work because they can be bumped and knocked over quite easily, even if they’ve been weighted down. Beyond that, a lot of guests tend to ignore them and assume they’re only for vehicle traffic rather than foot traffic.
While they are flexible compared to a permanent installation like bollards, that’s really the only “benefit” that comes with them. Bollards, in contrast, are a standard part of modern landscaping in most contexts because of their many applications. Just bear in mind that for our purposes, we’re not using the nautical definition, since in that context they’re the posts that people tie their ships to.
Landscaping: Why this Matters
The other thing that we have to keep in mind here is that it can be quite valuable to make our spaces aesthetically pleasing. Obviously, if you’re in charge of a park or something akin to that, then this is no surprise. No matter the type of property that you’re considering bollards for, though, it’s pretty important to keep the aesthetics in mind so that we can bring in more visitors.
With bigger crowds comes some further risks for safety and security, unfortunately. You can learn more about that on pages like this one, if you’re curious. All of this plays into the fact that we need to carefully select things that we can implement into our landscaping that both look nice as well as being functional.
In that sense, bollards are often the perfect bridge between those gaps. Why is that? Well, they can be decorated, and they can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, as just one example. Even the materials used can vary, meaning that we have a lot of flexibility in terms of landscaping and planning.
Endless Possibilities
Naturally, when we’re planning out a space, we tend to realize that there is a lot of potential in the area. Sometimes this can be freeing, but in other ways, it can be intimidating. One of the first things that we can do is to take a look at where we want foot traffic to be directed versus where we think it would be better to keep things off-limits.
That’s part of planning these spaces in the first place, and it’s often why the managers of these properties tend to focus on planning out these borders before they do anything else. Bollards are usually one of the first things to have their position decided on, even if they’re usually installed after the pathing is placed.
Remember, too, that you aren’t limited to just one shape of bollard. There are the standard pillars and poles, but they can come in a conical shape or even a spherical one. Really, the only limit is your own imagination.
When considering landscaping like this, each choice is often a calculated one. We hope that this helps you figure out the direction that you want to take.
