I am currently writing a document on Urban design and would like to share an extract with you.
Understanding Urban
Design and Urban Planning
To fully understand the concept of urban design
and urban planning and its influence on change in the global environment, a
synopsis thereof is as follows:
Urban design is about making
connections between people and places, movement and urban form, nature and the
built fabric. "It 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 "(Wikipedia).
The two fields are intrinsically
related; however urban design focuses on the design, quality, character and
appearance of places, including buildings and the spaces between them. Urban
planning, also relates to the uses to which those places and spaces are put,
and the ways in which they relate to each other.
Urban planning is concerned with design of the
urban environment (including transportation systems) to ensure the “orderly
development of settlement and communities” (Wikipedia), and maximising the
efficiency of the infrastructure for the citizens. It focuses on the physical, social and
economic impacts on the environment and the activities within it, particularly
involving political will, the participatory process and academic discipline. It is concerned with the renewal of cities in
decline as well as development of Greenfields sites.
Urban planning was born out of the movement for
urban reform against the industrial city.
Industrial cities of the 19th century developed rapidly to
the detriment of the citizens, which in turn heralded public concern. Through this concern intervention on the part
of the poor and disadvantaged was advocated.
At the turn of the 20th century theorists began
research and development of urban planning modules to attenuate the effects of
the industrial cities by providing citizens with healthier environments.
Movements such as the “Garden City” movement were aimed at decentralizing the working environment from the centre of the
cities, providing a healthy living space for the factory workers.
Today “sustainable development” is the
quintessential end result in all urban planning goals.
According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica and as
advocated by the United Nations-sponsored World Commission on Environment and
Development in Our Common Future (1987), sustainability refers to
“development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
[Accessed 19 March 2014].
WIKIPEDIA (2014) Urban Design [online] Available from:
[Accessed 19 March 2014].
[Accessed 19 March 2014].
[Accessed 19 March 2014].
