3 Difference Between Urban Design and Urban Planning

LECTURE NOTES 3
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN URBAN DESIGN AND URBAN PLANNING.
There are very distinct differences.
• Urban planners work with policy that shapes urban development. For example, an
urban planner can write policy recommendations for mass transit infrastructure, business
development strategies for economic development & job creation, or land use plans for
transit-oriented development.
• Urban designers work with the physical form of cities. For example, an urban designer
can any day be working on designing street-scapes and major transportation corridors;
parks, open spaces, waterfronts, and plazas; architectural design guidelines for
neighborhoods & downtowns.
Urban Design focuses on a holistic design of the urban environment through the shaping of space,
built form and landscape and the many strands of place-making that contribute to identity,
amenity, liveability and beauty.
Urban Planning is about balancing social, economic, and environmental concerns to create
sustainable urban places that are culturally rich, environmentally responsible, socially diverse and
economically sound.
1.1. Scope of Urban Design

Urban design has replaced the "civic design" which dealt primarily with city halls, museums,
streets, boulevards, parks and other open spaces since 1960s. However there is not a consensus
about the definition and boundaries of urban design.
Urban Design is,
• The process of giving physical design direction to urban growth, conservation, and change
• The design of cities - 'a grand design'
• The interface between architecture, landscape and town planning
• The complex relationships between all the elements of built and unbuilt space (DoE, 1996)
• The architecture of public space Some theoreticians rather not to describe urban design
but to explain what it is not:
• It is not land use policy, sign controls, and street lighting districts. It is not strictly utopian or
procedural.
• It is not necessarily a plan for downtown, however architectonic, nor a subdivision
regulation.
Descriptions explained above suggest that there is no easy, single, agreed definition of urban
design. However we can determine the general framework of urban design.
The basis for a framework defining urban design canbe 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
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
Role of Urban Design

Urban design is generally considered neither a profession nor a discipline. There is a trend to
formulate urban design as the interface between architecture and town planning, or the gap
between them.
For example, when Kevin Lynch saw urban design as a branch of architecture
Michael Southworth on the other hand thought urban design as a branch of urban 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."
Another commentator Jonathan Barnett also recognizes the crucial role of urban design between
the urban planning and architecture: "What is the difference between an urban designer and
urban planner, or between an urban designer and an architect?
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. 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, someone 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.
URBAN DESIGN AND PLANNING PRACTICE
Overview
Urban planning is not synonymous with urban
design...there are many urban planners who are not urban
designers, and likewise many urban designers who know
little about urban planning.
All those engaged in urban planning but are not

concerned with aesthetics do not qualify as urban
designers
Planning is undoubtedly a design-oriented discipline….the

controversy lies in the extent to which design is
recognized as a legitimate interest of the planning system.
 The design of a town begins with a symbolic representation

in two-dimension and to a small scale…this is town
planning!...because such a plan provides a framework for
subsequent detailing it calls for aesthetic sensibility….this is
urban design!
 Thus, town planning is the first/highest level of urban design

…and urban design is the last/lowest level of town planning
 Even at the object level such as individual building and the

lamp post or sitting bench, the architect and industrial
designer have to must consider the correlation of these
objects with other objects….and this is planning!

 Planning is about programming and putting together
components of a program in a given relationship…
urban design is about the actual structuring and
appearance of the components of the program in
space for aesthetic purposes.
 Thus a mastery of planning practice should include

its impact on urban design:
-Planning authorities should recognise how the powers
granted to them can be used positively to encourage the best
in urban design in the visual, social, environmental, and
functional contexts
- To promote the desirable and to control the undesirable
 Urban design should serve to enhance the impact of

urban planning at different scales….from strategic to
site-specific.
 Urban design also should serve to minimize inter-

professional conflict in the practice of planning
 Urban design should be conceptualized widely….

- macro: broad design policy in development
plans
- micro: supplementary design guidelines and
individual site briefs.
 Planning decisions that are likely to be highly design-
related fall under the following areas (further reading):
1. Settlement form: Metropolises; Inner cities; suburbs
2.Transportation: Public transport and urban form NMT/pedestrianization
3. Land use mix/comprehensive planning
4.Civic design and urban aesthetics
5. Site layouts/planning
6. Guardianship (Regulation and control)
7. Urban renewal/redevelopment and land use change
8. Slum upgrading
9.Conservation
10. Landscape design

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LECTURE NOTES 3

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN URBAN DESIGN AND URBAN PLANNING.

There are very distinct differences.

1.1. Scope of Urban Design

Role of Urban Design

All those engaged in urban planning but are not

Planning is undoubtedly a design-oriented discipline….the

 The design of a town begins with a symbolic representation

 Thus, town planning is the first/highest level of urban design

 Even at the object level such as individual building and the

 Thus a mastery of planning practice should include

- To promote the desirable and to control the undesirable

 Urban design should serve to enhance the impact of

 Urban design also should serve to minimize inter-

 Urban design should be conceptualized widely….

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