---
title: "Landscaped Buffer Strip"
url: "https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/elements/landscaped-buffer-strip/"
id: "ELM-LBS-30"
description: "A planted zone running between the roadway and the sidewalk, providing separation, stormwater treatment opportunity, and space for street trees and other plantings, distinct from a hardscaped or paved separation."
updated: "2026-09-26"
---

# Landscaped Buffer Strip

`ELM-LBS-30`

Recommended Element

Landscaped Buffer Strip

A planted zone running between the roadway and the sidewalk, providing separation, stormwater treatment opportunity, and space for street trees and other plantings, distinct from a hardscaped or paved separation.

## Why this pattern exists

A planted buffer between moving traffic and pedestrians provides psychological and physical separation beyond what a curb alone offers, while also creating usable space for trees, snow storage, and stormwater treatment that a fully paved streetscape does not accommodate. This pattern exists to document the width and design considerations that make this zone function well.[1]

## Key considerations

-   Width should be sufficient to support meaningful tree growth and planting; a strip too narrow limits both plant health and its buffering effect
-   Should account for a maintenance plan, since an unmaintained buffer can become an eyesore or a weed-choked liability rather than an asset
-   In snow climates, the strip may also serve as snow storage space, which should be planned for in plant and material selection

## Related patterns

[Street Tree](https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/elements/street-tree.md) (ELM-STT-28), [Tree Pit/Tree Trench](https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/elements/tree-pit-tree-trench.md) (ELM-TPT-29) (elements typically located within this zone); [Bioswale](https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/elements/bioswale.md) (ELM-BIO-19), [Pervious Strip](https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/elements/pervious-strip.md) (ELM-PVS-21) (stormwater treatments that may occupy this zone instead)

## References

1.  Precedent-based [NACTO Urban Street Design Guide, "Sidewalk Zones" (furnishing zone guidance). Width standards and the buffer's function separating pedestrians from traffic.](https://nacto.org/publication/urban-street-design-guide/street-design-elements/sidewalks/sidewalk-zones/)