The dimensions of urban design A confusing term

1. Defining urban design: principles and patterns

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2. The perceptual and temporal dimensions
3. The visual dimension
4. The morphological dimension
5. The social dimension 1: equity and community
6. The social dimension 2: safety and vitality
7. The functional dimension
Urban Design
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8. The local and global contexts for urban design
9. The power, process and communication of urban design

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A historical necessity
The
interface

“located at the interface between architecture, landscape

architecture and town planning, drawing on the design tradition
of architecture and landscape architecture, and the
environmental management and social science tradition of
contemporary planning” (SSRC in Bentley & Butina, 1991).

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Traditions of thought
The professional conspiracy
Visual
Social usage

Place-
making

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?
And more recent Simple definitions
agendas … 1: “The purpose is to see that the composition not only
functions properly, but is pleasing in appearance”

2: “The common ground between architecture and town

planning”

Climate change 3: “The design and management of the public realm ”

? 4: “The process of making better places for people than would

otherwise be produced"

5: “Everything you can see out of the window

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Simple definitions Broader definitions
Visual: “The purpose of town design is to see that the
composition not only functions properly, but is pleasing in
appearance” (Frederic Gibberd, 1953) “Urban design should be taken to mean the relationship
between different buildings; the relationship between
Professional: “The common ground between architecture and buildings and the streets, squares, parks and other spaces
town planning” (David Gosling, 1984) which make up the public domain; the nature and quality of
the public domain itself; the relationship of one part of a
Social usage: “The design and management of the public village, town or city with other parts; and the patterns of
realm ” (Paul Murrain 1988) movement and activity which are thereby established: in
short, the complex relationships between all the elements
Place making: “The process of shaping better places for
people than would otherwise be produced" (Carmona 2021) of the built and unbuilt space”

Pragmatic: “Everything you can see out of the window (Quality in Town & Country Initiative, 1996).
(unattributed in Francis Tibbalds, 1988)

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Normative frameworks
Slippery definitions

for urban design

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Francis Tibbalds
10 commandments

1. Consider places
before buildings
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2. have the humility to learn from 3. Encourage

the past and respect your context the mixing of

Flat
uses in towns
and cities

Office
Boutique
Hospital
Offices

Events
Power Station Housing

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4. design on a human scale

✔
✗

5.
encourage the freedom to walk about
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(recognisable or understandable)
of the community and consult
6. cater for all sections

with them

environments
7. Build legible

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9. avoid change on
too great a scale …

8. Build … at
to last the
and same
adapt time

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(2019)
Design Guide
National
10. with all the means available,
promote intricacy, joy and visual delight
in the built environment
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6
Christopher Alexander
But … reality is complicated!
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A complex language
253 patterns

Samanbahce
Nicosia
“… no pattern is an isolated entity. Each pattern can exist
in the world, only to the extent that it is supported by other
patterns: the larger patterns in which it is embedded, the
patterns of the same size that surround it, and the smaller
patterns which are embedded in it” (Alexander et al, 1977)

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1. Good un-obscured sight-lines
“A town needs public squares; So what are the 2. Comfortable seats (but not too
they are the largest, most comfortable!)
public rooms, that the town
patterns of a ‘good’ 3. Adequate elbow room
4. Main entrance at the back (not the front)
has. But when they are too lecture theatre? 5. Efficient gangway and exit arrangements
6. Large screen (or duel screens)
large, they look and feel
7. Accessible to all (mobility or hearing
deserted. impaired)
8. Adjustable lighting (artificial not natural)
9. Good environmental control (not too
Make a public square much warm!)
smaller than you would at first 10.Good natural acoustics
11.Comfortable writing desks
imagine; usually no more than 12.A bit of character
45 to 60 feet across, never 13.Space for the lecturer to move about
more than 70 feet across. This 14.Lectern positioned off sight-lines
15.Wrapped by other uses
applies only to its width in the 16.Easy to find from outside
shortest direction. In the long 17.Sizable lobby to wait
direction it can certainly be 18.A well placed clock
Pattern 61 longer”.
19.Easy to understand IT and other
controls
20.Wireless network and laptop sockets

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The ‘A City is Not a Tree’

complex
city “What is the inner
nature, the
ordering principle,
which
distinguishes the
artificial city from
the natural city?”
(Alexander 1965).

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Tree vs. Semi-lattice
Order vs.
Complexity

order vs. complexity rationality vs. reality

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Cities, the most complex of human

creations CASE STUDY

Birmingham:
from infrastructure to place-based vision

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Urban Design Studies
Industrial city to

1990s - Birmingham
introspective city

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1. Developing
and
protecting
views

2. Reinforcing
the city’s
urban form

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4. Helping
3. Redefining the street people
find their
way
around

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5. Softening and
enhancing 6. Sweeping
open space away the
street
clutter

7. Revealing
and
enhancing
the city’s
heritage

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Began a long-term proactive
planning strategy, and … ... investment in the public city

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30 years of a So what is urban

design-led approach design about?

Sustainable
place shaping
In all its glorious
complexity!
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And what do urban designers do?
masterplanning, development frameworks and concepts, concept design,
development briefs, design guidelines, urban design in development
control, urban design training, environmental and visual impact, public
consultation, assessment, site appraisal and context studies, environmental Where are the
statements, environmental improvement, building and area enhancement,
town centre renewal, public realm design, transport and traffic boundaries?
management, traffic calming, pedestrianisation, infrastructure strategies,
computer modelling, project management, engineering, interior, graphic and
product design, landscape design, architectural design, urban design, town
planning, land use planning, policy formulation and promotion, strategic
planning studies, local planning, public inquiries, conservation, new design
in historic contexts, planning in historic contexts and sensitive areas, “Urban design does not aim at excluding, but rather at
decontamination strategies, adaptive re-use, enabling development, incorporating a variety of professionals with different skills
implementation, urban regeneration, small town and village regeneration,
involved in the production of the urban environment, including
integrated regeneration of streets and buildings, community participation,
civic and community architecture, new settlements, large scale site architects and town planners, engineers, landscape architects,
planning, landscape planning, physical planning, urban housing, shopping, transportation planners and others concerned with that
employment, tourism, recreation and leisure, urban parks and spaces, process” (Urban Design Group)
urban squares, waterfront buildings and strategies, marinas, pedestrian
crime prevention and security, energy efficient design, site layout, etc...

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• Occupies the central ground between

recognised environmental professions Urban designers operate in
• Concerned with the careful

different ways
stewardship of the resources of the
built environment
• Concerned with helping the users and As seen …
not only the producers of the urban
environment achieve their aspirations
• Operates through understanding and
joining-up

By the public … By the investor … By the politician …

using political and financial processes
Its about

• Urban designers must understand and

interpret community needs and
aspirations
• Urban designers should be as much
promoters and enablers as controllers
of development
By the planners … By the developer … By themselves!

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CASE STUDY

The alternatives
Paternoster Square
Total design or coordinator?

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The total masterplan

The alternatives

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Paternoster Square now But also

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Sheffield – post-industrial
CASE STUDY
landscape

Sheffield city centre

Guided transformation

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Strategic masterplan

Urban Design
Compendium
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Renaissance city
Urban design is not …
1. Architecture writ large
2. Small scale planning
3. Just a public sector activity
4. Just aesthetic or even
physical design
5. A pattern book subject
6. Only product oriented
7. Concerned only with the new
8. A discrete self-contained
discipline
9. A threat to other professions

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Urban design
is, about
shaping place

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