Urban Design

LECTURE 1
Introduction

Abhishek K. Venkitaraman

Assistant Professor

Urban Design
What is it?
Many ways of interpreting it

The art of making successful places for

people

Urban design
What is good design?

Firmness
Will it last?

Functionality
Does it work?

Delight
Does it look good?

Urban Design
Is this good design?

Urban design
Creating a sense of place

Urban Design: Definitions

Urban Design is the process of organizing Physical elements of the
Urban environment to satisfy human objectives (Social, Economic,
Physiological & Psychological).

 City Planning according to artistic principles.

(CAMILO SITTE)
Architecture of Towns and Cities.
(PAUL D SPREIREGEN )

Urban Design:
Definitions

The Art of Ornamentation and Decoration

(MOUGHTIN)

As an interdisciplinary gap between architecture and planning

(REYNER BANHAM)
That part of city planning which deals with physical form of the city.
The most creative phase of city planning, in which imagination and artistic capacities play
the important part.
It's a professional discipline that is concerned with buildings and the spaces between them,
the public and the private realm- Not just the way things look and aesthetic experiences they
provide but with all aspects of human needs in the external built environment.

Urban Design: Definitions

Draft Master Plan, New Delhi
A city is an assemblage of buildings & streets, system of communication, utilities, Places of
work, Transportation, Leisure & Meeting places.
A process of arranging these elements both Functionally & Aesthetically is the essence of
Urban Design.

Urban Design: Definitions

University of Westminster: Urban Design Unit
UD is concerned with the physical form of cities buildings and
spaces between them.

The study of UD deals with the relationships between the

physical form of the city and the Social forces that produce it.
It focuses in particular on the physical character of the public
realm but is also concerned with interaction between Public &
private development and the resulting impact on urban form.

Urban Design: Definitions

As per Planning Policy Guidance (PPG):
Relationships between different buildings, streets,
squares, parks & spaces that make up the Public
Domain.
The complex relationship between all the elements of the
Built & Un-built space.
The appearance & treatment of spaces between &
around buildings, as is importance to the buildings itself,
along with landscape design all be considered as an
integral part Urban Design.

Urban Design: Definitions

Urban design is the art of making places for people. It
includes the connections between people and places,
movement and urban form, nature and the built fabric
and the processes for ensuring successful villages, towns
and cities

Urban design is a key to creating sustainable

developments and the conditions for a flourishing
economic life, for the prudent use of natural resources and
for social progress

Urban Design: Objectives

Objectives of urban design
Character a place with its own identity.
Continuity & Enclosure a place where public & private space
are clearly distinguished.
Quality of the Public Realm a place with attractive & successful
outdoor areas.
Ease of movement a place that is easy to get to & move through.
Legibility a place that has a clear image & is easy to understand.

Adaptability a place that can change easily.

Diversity a place with variety & choice.

8 PUBLIC SPACES DESIGNED TO MANIPULATE YOUR ACTIONS

Source: techinsider

8 PUBLIC SPACES DESIGNED TO MANIPULATE YOUR ACTIONS

Source: techinsider

8 PUBLIC SPACES DESIGNED TO MANIPULATE YOUR ACTIONS

Source: techinsider

8 PUBLIC SPACES DESIGNED TO MANIPULATE YOUR ACTIONS

Source: techinsider

8 PUBLIC SPACES DESIGNED TO

MANIPULATE YOUR ACTIONS
Source: techinsider

8 PUBLIC SPACES DESIGNED TO MANIPULATE YOUR ACTIONS

Source: techinsider

8 PUBLIC SPACES DESIGNED TO MANIPULATE YOUR ACTIONS

Source: techinsider

THE ROLE OF

URBAN DESIGN GUIDANCE

Urban Design Guidance

Urban design guidance is a generic term for documents that guide developers and their designers in
planning and designing development
It can be prepared by
local authorities,
land owners,
developers,
partnerships,
business and community organizations(all involved in the process),
or by several jointly

Urban design can support

planning policy,
facilitate collaboration,
express vision,
set design standards
indicate the next steps.

POLICY
Urban
Design
Guidance
can:

Allow public policy to set the framework

for urban design without becoming
involved in inappropriate level of detail
Provide a framework for developmental
control, relating the councils policies to
a particular area or site
Contribute to the process of reviewing
the local authoritys plans and policies

COLLABORATION
Urban
Design
Guidance
can:

Reflect the views and values of all stakeholders, including

local people
Provide a clear basis for dialogue or negotiate between a
local authority, partnership, developer, local people and
other interests
Save time and effort in negotiating amendments to a
planning application
Provide a means for establishing consensus and support

VISION
Urban
Design
Guidance
can:

Express a coherent vision of how an area or site can be

developed
Provide a degree of certainty about what the local authority,
partnership and other agencies will require from developers
Create greater awareness of commercial and practical aspects
of a development proposal, and its potential contribution to the
local economy, early in the process
Provide a basis for assembling the values of sites

Support the process of assembling development land

DESIGN
STANDARDS
Urban
Design
Guidance
can:

Describe and illustrate the proposed urban form in three

dimensions, explaining how that form will achieve the intended
vision for the place
Provide the information on which successful development and high
standards of design depend
Inspire better and more imaginative architecture by initiating a
creative response to the site
Provide a design concept to coordinate the design of individual
sites or buildings
Test alternative design and development scenarios

Educate professionals and the public in the value of good design

INDICATION OF
NEXT STEPS
Urban
Design
Guidance
can:

Provide a basis for producing more detailed guidance.

Urban design frameworks can be followed by development
briefs or streetscape manuals, for example
Help in promoting and marketing an area or site

Provide the basis for bidding for public sector funds and
securing private sector support

Provide a common basis for comparing developers

proposals

Multidisciplinary approach
to Urban Design
Urban design is a multiple-disciplinary activity involving planners, architects, landscape
architects and engineering working together to create and implement a vision for our cities,
towns and villages, for our neighbourhood and for new and existing developments.

Urban design is the collaborative and multi- disciplinary process of shaping the physical
setting for life in cities, town and villages, the art of making places, design in an urban
context.
Urban design involves the design of buildings, groups of buildings, spaces and landscapes
and the establishment of frame works and processes that facilitates successful
development.
URBAN DESIGN GROUP- LONDON

Various aspects and approaches of Urban Design

Visual aesthetic
Appearance
Townscape
Public Perception
social usage of Public Realm
Environmental- sustainability, energy/ resource optimization, waste minimization
Holistic- functional, social, psychological, environmental

Urban Design: Perceptions

Many equate Urban Design with, Town scape, Urban
Conservation, Architecture, Town planning etc.
Urban Design as part of Town planning.
Architects may believe it as Architecture writ large,
across the whole urban fabric, where as some Urban
Designers may believe as strategic city wide urban
policy issues.

Urban Design: Perceptions

Some Urban designers think that planners imagine
Urban Design as beautifying detailed aspects of
planning such as; pedestrianization, Boulevards,
townscape schemes.
Conversely architects may see UD as a larger
extension of architecture in the process of
designing every thing.
Traffic engineers may see it as Traffic Calming.

Urban Design: Perceptions

Although the agenda of UD
may appear new and different
related to modern town
planning, in fact UD is an
ancient profession which has
shaped towns and cities over
the centuries all over the world.

UD is perhaps the oldest

of those activities of what
might be called planning.
But its base might have
been superficial.

Urban Design: Perceptions

A key feature of modern Urban Design practice is the
ability to integrate a concern with the Visual and Aesthetic
aspects of Urban Form with a strong social awareness of
the need of User groups. Plus, a sensitivity to wider
environmental and sustainability issues.
Visual and
aesthetics aspects

Social awareness of
the need of user
groups

URBAN
DESIGN

Environmental and
sustainability issues

Levels of Planning and design

Regional Planning

Network
Economic Activities

-People
-Natural Resources

Allocation and determining the size and nature of city

City Planning

The three dimensional perception of urban environment

Urban Design

Urban masses and

architecture

Buildings or group of buildings

Other than buildings in urban design

WHAT IS GOOD URBAN DESIGN?

Urban design can significantly influence:
the economic success and socio-economic composition of a locality whether it
encourages local businesses and entrepreneurship; whether it attracts people to live there;
whether the costs of housing and travel are affordable; and whether access to job
opportunities, facilities and services are equitable;
the physical scale, space and ambience of a place. As such, it affects the balance between
natural ecosystems and built environments, and their sustainability;
the social and cultural nature of a locality: how people interact with each other, how they
move around, and how they use a place.

PLACE MAKING
Urban design aims at the creation of useful, attractive, safe,
environmentally sustainable, economically successful and socially
equitable place.

https://architecturehereandthere.com/2015/04/01/april-fool-project-for-public-spacesnational-trust-preservation/

Plaza of Boston City Hall. (Project for Public Spaces)

The way that these plazas inhibit the natural human instinct to connect with others is a unique
part of our cultural heritage, and it is as worthy of preservation as the Petroglyphs on Indian
God Rock or Jeffersons home at Monticello, said National Register program manager Paul
Loether. We need to guarantee that these places not be experienced in the way they were
intended to not be experienced.