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Range & Depth of Urban Design Skills -
take a look at the questionnaire for local governments to
see if they have the urban design skills.
click here
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By Design
Detr
Publication
Urban design in the planning system: towards better
practice
click here
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'We should STOP thinking that good design is an
optional extra'
Excerpt from CABE's
Better Public Buildings Report
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A Must Read
Better places to live by design: a
companion guide to PPG3
Click Here
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The Value of
Good Design
- CABE Publication.
Click Here
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The
Literature Review of Public Space and Local Environments
for the Cross Cutting Review report sets out to answer
these questions.
Click here to read
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A MUST READ FOR THIS SECTION
BETTER CIVIC BUILDINGS AND SPACES
by CABE
Click Here To
Read
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Somerset
Community Profile 2003
This
publication draws together information about the
Social, Economic and Environmental state of the County
and, in so doing, provide a broad picture of the
Community...
Click Here
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 Urban Design
In June 1999 a report published by the influential Urban Task
Force chaired by the architect Lord Rogers, found that British
cities were "way behind" those in Holland, Germany and Scandinavia
in terms of the quality of urban life and the built environment.
One of the
task force's central messages was that improvements in design were
vital for an "urban renaissance" to reverse the abandonment of
inner cities and to protect
the countryside from sprawling development.
The report also stated that this would require a
national urban design framework defining the core principles of
urban design,
 guidelines
showing how good design can support local plans, and
three-dimensional spatial master plans showing how a new
development will work in its wider urban context. The final stage
in the design and construction of an individual building can then
play its part in the well-designed streets and neighbourhoods and
public realm that comprise the built environment. |
 The
role of good urban design in the planning system can be
particularly important. That is why ODPM has made it a key
part of their planning policy, through for example the radical
new approach to housing development set out in PPG3. They have
amplified their ideas about what they mean by good urban
design through publication of the following good practice
guidance documents:
- By Design - Urban design in the planning system:
Towards a Better Practice (jointly published with CABE in
May 2000);
click here to read
- Better places to live by design: A companion
guide to Planning Policy Guidance Note 3;
Click Here
- Places Streets and Movement: A companion Guide to
Design Bulletin 32 published Sept 1998.
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What is Urban Design?
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'Defining urban design is a challenge. No one or
two sentence definition can adequately embrace the substance,
scales, methods, roles and processes of urban design. It is
easier to say what urban design is not - architecture, civil
or highway engineering, landscape architecture, surveying,
town planning - than what it is: urban design is both more and
less than any one of these long
established professional activities. The concerns of urban
design are wide ranging - visual, functional, ecological and
environmental, the urban experience and the quality of the
public realm: so too is the range of spatial scales over which
urban design issues need to be addressed - project or site,
neighbourhood and district, town and city-wide, regional and
even national. Many people and interests are involved in the
process of urban design: those with an immediate involvement
in a project, not all of whom may see themselves as urban
designers; and many others having less of an influence on the
details of a proposal but a profound effect on the outcome
none-the-less. Even more people have a stake in the processes
and outcomes of urban change: individuals, members of local
groups, communities and society as a whole; occupiers and
users; present and future generations'.
ODPM on Training for Urban Design
 'Urban
design is the art of making places for people. It includes the
way places work and matters, such as community safety, as well
as how they look. It concerns 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. Good design can help create lively places
with distinctive character; streets and public spaces that are
safe, accessible, pleasant to use and human in scale; and
places that inspire because of the imagination and sensitivity
of their designers'.
By
Design-DETR
Take a look at some of the publications on the left column of
this page for other Urban Design information. |
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