Urban design is about making place for people. It is concerned with how places function as well as how they look, bringing together issues of planning, transportation, architectural design, economics, landscape and engineering to create a vision for an area. Good urban design is essential to deliver places which are socially, environmentally and economically sustainable. It provides distinctive places that encourage investment and can attract a skilled workforce, therefore increasing the economic value of an area.
Greater understanding about urban design and the skills it involves are central to the Government’s vision for sustainable communities. You can read more about sustainable communities in Sustainable Communities: Building For The Future and Our Towns and Cities: The Future (the Urban White Paper).
What is good urban design?
There is a wealth of information around on urban design. If you want to know more about the skills you need and the resources available, these pages will point you in the right direction.
As a starting point, ‘Where We Live: A Guide to Urban Design’ provides a clear and concise guide to the language of urban design. It is aimed at anybody interested in the built environment, but specifically for people whose city, town, village or estate is about to undergo change and want to understand and influence that change. It could also benefit planners who have received no formal design training as well as architects and urban designers in their conversations with lay people. 'Where We Live' is also a valuable learning tool for schools and students of related subjects. Contact the Solent Centre for Architecture + Design (SCA+D) to find out how to get a copy.
The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) is a key source of information, advice, resources and publications on design and the built environment. CABE is the government’s advisor on architecture, urban design and public space and has produced a number of policy guidance documents, client guides and case studies that you can download from their website.
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CABE and eight regional design review panels have joined together to create a national network of design review panels.
This will provide all local planning authorities with access to independent practical design advice. The network will collectively review more than 800 schemes a year.
CABE has supported regional design review panels since 2005 and affiliation formalises the relationship. It will ensure that the panels work closely together, and a consistent service is provided to developers and planners across England.
Affiliation commits each organisation to observe key principles of design review, including a focus on the impact on those using a building or place and the public at large, as well as sharing the lessons from design review on a regular basis.
Richard Simmons, CABE chief executive, said that design review panels have proved themselves to be a great success story. He added: “Just one example is the Falmer Academy in Brighton, where the comments made by the South East regional design panel have resulted in a really imaginative planning application. This affiliation recognises the high-quality service provided by regional panels and it will ensure that more schemes benefit from the best possible design advice.”
The eight regional design review panels that have affiliated to CABE are those in the South East (run by the Kent Architecture Centre); the South West (run by Creating Excellence); the North East (run by Ignite); the North West (run by Places Matter!); the West Midlands (run by MADE); the East Midlands (run by Opun); the East of England (run by Inspire East); and Yorkshire and Humber (run by Integreat Yorkshire).
Affiliation will also contribute to the government’s commitment, as set out in World class places (the government’s strategy for improving quality of place) to strengthen advisory support on design quality for local authorities, the public sector and developers. The strategy, published in May, sets out to ensure that regional support for quality of place, including design review, is strengthened.