INTRODUCTION TO URBAN

DESIGN
MODULE I
Definition of Urban Design

 What is an urban area?

 What is a city?
 When did the term Urban design came?
 What is Urban Design?
 Is it planning or architecture?
 What is the scale of UD projects?
Definition of Urban Design
Catalyst for the rise of Urban Design
 The automobile was an important influence on the design of urban
development in the 20th century, and the rise of the "urban design"
movement can be seen in part as a reaction to the adverse impact of car-
use and car orientated design.
 Gordon Cullen's The Concise Townscape, first published in 1961.
 Jane Jacobs' The Death and Life of Great American Cities, published in 1961
 Kevin Lynch's The Image of the City of 1961 was also seminal to the
movement
Definition of Urban Design

When was the term Urban design used?

 Civic design in England came first

 Urban design was being discussed in the American planning

profession in the 1950s. What is generally said to have been the
first urban design conference was held at Harvard University's
Graduate School of Design in 1956, its participants including Lewis
Mumford, Jane Jacobs, Victor Gruen And Edmund Bacon.
 Its organiser, Jose Luis Sert, announced urban design as a new
academic field, which he defined as 'the part of planning concerned
with the physical form of the city'.
 The first university course in urban design was established at
Harvard in 1960. Lewis Mumford wrote in 1957 from the USA
accusing FJ Osborn (in a letter to him) of identifying new towns with
'only one kind of urban design'.
Definition of Urban Design

 The American Institute of Architecture established a Committee on

Urban Design in 1960 and it published Paul D Spreiregen's book
Urban Design: the architecture of cities and towns in 1965.
 The Joint Centre for Urban Design at Oxford Polytechnic
(later Oxford Brookes University) was established in 1972.
 The UK Urban Design Group was formed in 1978. Punter and
Carmona note that in the UK the term urban design 'had been
conspicuous by its absence' in government publications and guidance
until the publication of John Gummer's Quality in Town and Country
in 1994
Definition of Urban Design

 Urban design is the process of designing and shaping cities, towns and villages.
Whereas architecture focuses on individual buildings, urban design address the
larger scale of groups of buildings, of streets and public spaces, whole
neighborhoods and districts, and entire cities, to make urban areas functional,
attractive, and sustainable.
 Urban design is concerned with the arrangement, appearance and function of
our suburbs, towns and cities. It is both a process and an outcome of creating
localities in which people live, engage with each other, and engage with the
physical place around them.
 Urban design involves many different disciplines including planning,
development, architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, economics, law
and finance, among others.
 Urban design operates at many scales, from the macro scale of the urban
structure (planning, zoning, transport and infrastructure networks) to the micro
scale of street furniture and lighting. When fully integrated into policy and
planning systems, urban design can be used to inform land use planning,
infrastructure, built form and even the socio-demographic mix of a place.
Definition of Urban Design

The art of creating and shaping cities and towns

 Urban design involves the arrangement and design of buildings, public spaces,
transport systems, services, and amenities. Urban design is the process of giving
form, shape, and character to groups of buildings, to whole neighborhoods, and the
city.
 It is a framework that orders the elements into a network of streets, squares, and
blocks. Urban design blends architecture, landscape architecture, and city planning
together to make urban areas functional and attractive.
 Urban design is about making connections between people and places, movement
and urban form, nature and the built fabric. Urban design draws together the many
strands of place-making, environmental stewardship, social equity and economic
viability into the creation of places with distinct beauty and identity.
 Urban design is derived from but transcends planning and transportation
policy, architectural design, development economics, engineering and landscape. It
draws these and other strands together creating a vision for an area and then
deploying the resources and skills needed to bring the vision to life.
Definition of Urban Design

 Peter Webber defines urban design as 'the process of

moulding the form of the city through time'.
 Jerry Spencer has described it as 'creating the theatre of
public life'.
 To Carmona, Heath, Oc and Tiesdell it is 'the process of
making better places for people than would otherwise be
produced'.
 The urban designer Doug Paterson has defined urban
design as 'merging civitas and the urbs: building the values
and ideals of a civilized place into the structure of a city'.
 Peter Batchelor and David Lewis define urban design as
'design in an urban context'.
Definition of Urban Design

 In the words of the writer and critic Peter Buchanan: 'Urban

design is about how to recapture certain of the qualities
(qualities which we experience as well as those we see) that
we associate with the traditional city: a sense of order, place,
continuity, richness of experience, completeness and belonging.

 Buchanan has written that 'urban design is concerned with

analysing, organising and shaping urban form so as to
elaborate as richly and as coherently as possible the lived
experience of the inhabitants. In essence it is about the
interdependence and mutual development of both city and
citizen.
Definition of Urban Design

 Urban design is essentially about place making, where place is

not just a specific space, but all the activities and events that it
makes possible. As a consequence the whole city is enriched.
Instead of a city fragmented into islands of no place and
anywhere, it remains a seamlessly meshed and richly varied
whole. In such a city, daily life is not reduced to a dialectic
between city centre and one of the similar suburbs: instead the
citizen is encouraged to avail himself of the whole city, to enjoy
all its various parts and so enrich his experience and education
(become street-wise) in the ways only real urban life allows.’
Definition of Urban Design

 Urban design is the collaborative and multi-disciplinary

process of shaping the physical setting for life in cities, towns
and villages; the art of making places; design in an urban
context. Urban design involves the Some urban designers
define urban design as 'the design of the spaces between
buildings', presumably to distinguish it from architecture,
which they define as the design of the buildings themselves.
This definition excludes urban design's proper concern with
the structure of a place; it ignores the fact that to a
significant extent the characteristics of the spaces between
buildings are determined by the buildings themselves; and it
encourages architects in any tendency they may have to
ignore the context in which they are designing.
Definition of Urban Design

 Barry Young has suggested one set of stages for the urban
design process. These are: a) Define physical design principles.
b) Identify performance criteria. c) Develop design options. d)
Evaluate the options in terms of design principles and
performance criteria. e) Develop the preferred option.
 Clearence Stein said Urban Design ‘is the art of relating
STRUCTURES to one another and to their NATURAL SETTINGS
to serve CONTEMPORARY LIVING’.
Definition of Urban Design

 UD cannot be defined or should not be defined

 Definition is the idea of modernism
 An idea of good planning

"It is easier to talk about urban design than to write about it… In
between (planning and architecture), but belonging neither to
one nor the other, lies the magic world of urban design. We can
recognize it by its absence. It is inferred, suggested, felt."
……Kevin Lynch
Elements of urban form macro to micro
Elements of urban form macro to micro

URBAN STRUCTURE
 The overall framework of a region, town or precinct, showing relationships
between zones of built forms, land forms, natural environments, activities
and open spaces. It encompasses broader systems including transport and
infrastructure networks.
URBAN GRAIN
 The balance of open space to built form, and the nature and extent of
subdividing an area into smaller parcels or blocks. For example a ‘fine
urban grain’ might constitute a network of small or detailed streetscapes. It
takes into consideration the hierarchy of street types, the physical linkages
and movement between locations, and modes of transport.
DENSITY + MIX
 The intensity of development and the range of different uses (such as
residential, commercial, institutional or recreational uses).
Elements of urban form macro to micro

HEIGHT + MASSING
 The scale of buildings in relation to height and floor area, and how they
relate to surrounding land forms, buildings and streets. It also incorporates
building envelope, site coverage and solar orientation. Height and massing
create the sense of openness or enclosure, and affect the amenity of streets,
spaces and other buildings.
STREETSCAPE + LANDSCAPE
 The relationship of buildings to the site, street and neighbouring buildings
(alignment, setbacks, boundary treatment) and the architectural expression
of their facades (projections, openings, patterns and materials).
DETAILS + MATERIALS
 The close-up appearance of objects and surfaces and the selection of
materials in terms of detail, craftsmanship, texture, colour, durability,
sustainability and treatment. It includes street furniture, paving, lighting and
signage. It contributes to human comfort, safety and enjoyment of the public
domain.
Elements of urban form macro to micro

PUBLIC REALM
 Much of urban design is concerned with the design and management of
publicly used space (also referred to as the public realm or public domain)
and the way this is experienced and used.
 The public realm includes the natural and built environment used by the
general public on a day-to-day basis such as streets, plazas, parks, and
public infrastructure. Some aspects of privately owned space such as the
bulk and scale of buildings, or gardens that are visible from the public
realm, can also contribute to the overall result.

TOPOGRAPHY, LANDSCAPE AND ENVIRONMENT

 The natural environment includes the topography of landforms, water
courses, flora and fauna—whether natural or introduced. It may be in the
form of rivers and creeks, lakes, bushland, parks and recreational facilities,
streetscapes or private gardens, and is often referred to as ‘green
infrastructure’.
Elements of urban form macro to micro

SOCIAL + ECONOMIC FABRIC

 The non-physical aspects of the urban form which include social factors
(culture, participation, health and well-being) as well as the productive
capacity and economic prosperity of a community. It incorporates aspects
such as demographics and life stages, social interaction and support
networks.
SCALE
 The size, bulk and perception of a buildings and spaces. Bulk refers to
the height, width and depth of a building in relation to other surrounding
buildings, the street, setbacks and surrounding open space. For example, a
large building set amongst other smaller buildings may seem ‘out of scale’.
URBAN FORM
 The arrangement of a built up area. This arrangement is made up of many
components including how close buildings and uses are together; what uses
are located where; and how much of the natural environment is a part of
the built up area.
Scope and objectives if Urban Design

 The need for UD as a discipline has arisen as a result of the

fundamental cultural, political, social and economic changes.
 Other issues include the impact of environmental issues and
quality of life on the nature of the city and how urban form
can best be adapted to our current and future needs.
Scope and objectives if Urban Design

The basis for a framework defining urban design can be grouped

under six main headings according to The Institute for Urban
Design (IUD)’s criteria:
 1. Historic preservation and urban conservation

 2. Design for pedestrians

 3. Vitality and variety of use

 4. The cultural environment

 5. Environmental context

 6. Architectural values
Scope and objectives if Urban Design

Goals and principles describing urban design can be grouped

under eight major headings:
• Place,
• Density,
• Mixed and compatible uses,
• Pedestrianization and human scale,
• Human culture,
• Public realm,
• Built environment
• Natural environment
Need for UD in contemporary India

 Amidst the present scenario of unprecedented growth and

change across all levels of urban settlements, especially in our
part of the world, the need for increased networking and
dialogue between the participants of such change becomes
imperative. The emerging directions of change and
developmental choices as witnessed all around us today raises
immense challenges and possibilities towards a dynamic and
contributory role of the urban design profession within
different societal conditions. It is at this significant juncture that
the newly constituted Institute of Urban Designers – India (IUDI)
as a national level association of urban design professionals,
academicians and practitioners has come into being.
Relation between Architecture, Urban Design and
Town Planning

 Urban design lies somewhere between the broad-brush

abstractions of planning and the concrete specifics of
architecture. It implies a notion of citizenship: life in the public
realm. It is not just about space, but time as well. Much of what
passes for urban design is conceived only for one moment.
Good urban design is more than just knitting together the
townscape. Urban designers should be configuring a rich
network in which buildings come and go: a framework of
transport, built fabric and other features, which will create
natural locations for things. Urban design structures activities.’
Relation between Architecture, Urban Design and
Town Planning
 An urban planner was some one who was primarily concerned with
the allocation of resources according to
projections of future need.
Planners tend to regard land use as a distribution of resources
problem, parcelling, out land, for zoning purposes, without much
knowledge of its three-dimensional characteristics, or the nature of
the building that may be placed on it in the future. The result is that
most zoning ordinances and official land use plans produce
stereotyped and unimaginative buildings.
 Architect, on the other hand, designs buildings. A good architect will
do all he can to relate the building he is designing to its
surroundings, but he has no control over what happens off the
property he has been hired to considered.
Relation between Architecture, Urban Design and
Town Planning
 There is a substantial middle ground between these professions, and
each has some claim to it, but neither fills it very well.
 Land use planning would clearly be improved if it involved someone
who understands three-dimensional design. On the other hand, some
one is needed to design the city, not just the buildings.
 Therefore, there was a need for someone who could be called an
urban designer."
 Undoubtedly urban design cannot stand alone between these three
main professions.
 Urban design is an interdisciplinary concept and should be
considered with the other disciplines and professions such as Real
Estate Development, Economics, Civil Engineering, Law, Social
Sciences and Natural Sciences
10 ways in which an Urban Designer can work

1. Designing Public realm

2. Designing the urban context
3. Responding to the contextual complexity with in a precinct
4. Empowering the urban object as an active agent in the city structure.
5. Incorporate the safety of human networks in the city
6. Mediating the expression of history
7. Defining large scale architecture
8. Giving third dimension to the master plan
9. Designing the development process
10. Coordinating all physical inputs into urban development
FOUR GENERIC TYPES OF URBAN DESIGN
WORK
1. Total Urban Design – where the urban designer is part of the
development team that carries a scheme through from inspection to
completion.
2. All-of-a piece Urban Design- where the urban design team
devices a master plan and sets the parameters within which a
number of developers work on components of the overall project.
3. Piece-by-piece Urban design – in which general policies and
procedures are applied to a precinct of a city in order to steer
development in specific directions.
4. Plug-in Urban Design – where the design goal is to create the
infrastructure so that subsequent developments ca ‘plug in’ to it or
alternatively, a new element of infrastructure is plugged into the
existing fabric to enhance a location’s amenity level as a catalyst
for development.