A standard concrete slab is 1’x2’ in your neck of the woods—who knew? Are the ‘slabs’ prefabricated (think big pavers)? Smaller, discrete sections of concrete (slabs) in a sidewalk setting would have more of a tendency to heave, crack, subside, etc. in different directions making for a sidewalk that may not meet Americans with Disabilities Act (or perhaps your region’s equivalent) but that’s another story.
Here, sidewalks are almost always poured-in-place, with the poured size as large as possible to help prevent the large cracks and grade changes mentioned above, plus it’s more economical. Construction and contraction joints are included in the design to control cracking, and scoring joints are added for aesthetic effect as well as crack control. In the downtown area of my city the standard minimum width is 5’ so the score joints would be at every 5’ and the construction joints at about every 20’—there’s more on this in Architectural Graphic Standards and Landscape Architectural Graphic Standards.
If you’re not limited to the 1’x2’s and can ‘pour’ the sidewalk you could ‘celebrate’ the sidewalk’s radius by having the concrete slab’s joints radiate from the center point (centre for you) of the big curve, with the score joint spacing equal to the sidewalk width and construction joints at approximately every 8 to 12 metres.
If you’re stuck w/ the 1’x2’ size my first suggestion would be to realize that most people will never see whatever pattern you come up with from your vantage point (plan view) unless the building is a high-rise and they have nothing better to do than stare down at the ground. In my experience, concrete sidewalk patterns aren’t usually noticed unless they’re strikingly good (or bad). Of course coloured pavers are another story. If labour isn’t prohibitively expensive, your installer can use a concrete saw, and there’s no other design logic to complement, I’d consider a geometric pattern such as herringbone. If you have the flexibility to alternate colour in the ‘slabs’ consider other patterns like basketweave, argyle, etc.
And to set the record straight: one yard = 36”; one metre = 39.37”
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