Urban design
Urban design concerns the arrangement, appearance and functionality of towns and cities.
Its focus is particularly on
public space (a.k.a. the ‘public environment', ‘public realm' or ‘public domain') including the totality of spaces that are used freely on a day-to-day basis by the general public. This encompasses streets and parks together with public infrastructure and privately-owned places. It is concerned with the way these places are experienced and used, and so facades of buildings and other elements that contribute to the quality of public space are considered although the emphasis is on spaces between buildings rather than on the buildings themselves. Important writers on â€" and advocates for â€" the use of public space in this sense include
Jane Jacobs,
William H. Whyte and
Jan Gehl.
Urban design considers:
*
Structure â€" How a place is put together and how its parts relate to each other
*
Accessibility â€" Providing for ease, safety and choice when moving to and through places
*
Legibility â€" Helping people to find their way around and understand how a place works
*
Animation â€" Designing places to stimulate public activity
*
Function and fit â€" Shaping places to support their varied intended uses
*
Complementary mixed uses â€" Locating activities to allow constructive interaction between them
*
Character and meaning â€" Recognizing and valuing the differences between one place and another
*
Order and incident â€" Balancing consistency and variety in the urban environment in the interests of appreciating both
*
Continuity and change â€" Locating people in time and place, including respect for heritage and support for contemporary culture
*
Civil society â€" Making places where people are free to encounter each other as civic equals
Public spaces are frequently subject to overlapping management responsibilities of multiple public agencies or authorities and the interests of nearby property owners, as well as the requirements of multiple and sometimes competing users. The design, construction and management of public spaces therefore typically demands consultation and negotiation at a variety of levels, and urban designers rarely have the degree of artistic liberty or control sometimes offered in design professions such as architecture. It also typically requires interdisciplinary input with balanced representation of multiple fields including
engineering,
ecology,
local history, and
transport planning.
The scale and degree of detail considered varies depending on context and needs. It ranges from the layout of entire cities, as with
l'Enfant's plan for
Washington DC and
Griffin and Mahony's plan for
Canberra (although such opportunities are obviously rare), through ‘managing the sense of a region' as described by
Kevin Lynch, to the design of
street furniture.
Urban design may encompass the preparation of design guidelines or even legislation to control development, advertising, etc. and in this sense overlaps with
urban planning. It may encompass the design of particular spaces and structures and in this sense overlaps with
architecture,
landscape architecture and
industrial design. It may also deal with ‘place management' to guide and assist the use and maintenance of urban areas.
Much urban design work is undertaken by urban planners, landscape architects and architects but there are professionals who identify themselves specifically as urban designers and some university programs that offer degrees in urban design.
*
Resource for Urban Design Information*
The Urban Design Alliance*
New Zealand Ministry for the Environment publications on urban design, including their Urban Design Protocol*
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment*
Urban design discussion forum on Cyburbia*
Urban Design Compliance Project*
Architecture*
Behavioural sciences*
Building engineering*
Car-free zone*
Context theory*
Crime prevention through environmental design*
Design*
Ecology*
Environmental psychology*
Ergonomics*
Landscape architecture*
New Urbanism*
Space syntax*
Urban economics*
Urban planning*
Urban village
