URBAN DESIGN METHOD AND

TECHNIQUES
• HISTORICAL ANALYSIS
• TOWNSCAPE ANALYSIS
• PERMEABILITY STUDY: PRIVACY
AND ACCESSIBILITY
• VISUAL ANALYSIS
 HISTORICAL ANALYSIS
• Understanding the genius loci is a good
starting point when beginning study of the
site.
• Peeling back the layers of history which
encrust the modern city reveals the
reasons for its present form and function.
 HISTORICAL ANALYSIS
• The richness of the urban realm is the
product of a long process of historical
development.
• If the site has an ancient history the study
may include a detailed archaeological
investigation.
 HISTORICAL ANALYSIS
• The analysis of the site and its history
would conclude with a study of more
recent pressures on the urban structure,
which would include an analysis of recent
planning documents in order to determine
those policies which currently affect
development on the site.
 TOWNSCAPE ANALYSIS
• There are three main aspects of
townscape analysis.
• The first concerns the legibility of the
urban structure, that is, the ways in which
people perceive, understand and react to
the environment.
 TOWNSCAPE ANALYSIS
• It concerns those qualities of a place
which give it an immediate identity, one
which is quickly perceived or grasped by
its users.
 TOWNSCAPE ANALYSIS
• The second aspect of townscape analysis
concerns the permeability of the
environment, that is, the choice it presents
to the user.
• The third aspect of the analysis, a visual
study, conforms more closely to the more
traditional meaning of townscape
 PERCEPTUAL STRUCTURE
• Legibility is one of the qualities of the
traditional city. The traditional city is ‘easy
to read’.
• The important public and religious
buildings were the tallest and most
imposing in the city; the main public
squares and streets for parade were
embellished with decoration, fountains,
sculpture and ornamental lighting.
 PERCEPTUAL STRUCTURE
• Places had a beginning, an end, a
defining boundary and, above all else, a
centre for meeting and commercial
display.
• Lynch demonstrated with his studies of
mental mapping that a legible
environment is one that is capable of
being structured by people into accurate
images.
 PERMEABILITY STUDY: PRIVACY
AND ACCESSIBILITY
• We all live both public and private lives.
One measure of a civilized society is the
freedom with which citizens can walk the
streets in safety. A function of urban
government is to ensure the safe use of
the public realm.
 PERMEABILITY STUDY: PRIVACY
AND ACCESSIBILITY
• Another, apparently contradictory, role of
urban government is to guarantee to its
citizens the levels of privacy demanded by
its culture or cultures. Securing safety and
privacy in the home and delivering easy
access to public space are two functions
of urban government.
 PERMEABILITY STUDY: PRIVACY
AND ACCESSIBILITY
• The contrary demands for privacy in the
home and easy access to the streets,
squares and parks of the city are resolved
at the interface between the public realm
and the private domain.
 VISUAL ANALYSIS
• The visual analysis has three main parts:
• a study of three-dimensional public space,
• a study of the two dimensional surfaces
which enclose public space
• and a study of the architectural details
which give to an area much of its special
character.
 VISUAL ANALYSIS
• Useful techniques for spatial analysis are
the aerial photograph, aerial perspective
and the aerial axonometric
• The aerial photograph shows the
relationship of the building forms to the
surrounding public and private open space
at a given time.
 VISUAL ANALYSIS
• A time series of aerial photographs can
give valuable insights into recent
developments.
• Both the aerial perspective and aerial
axonometric have the advantage of
greater control and choice of vantage
point.
 VISUAL ANALYSIS
• The aerial axonometric is a little easier to
construct than the perspective, particularly
if it is simplified to show buildings in block
form.
• For this reason it is used more often than
the perspective during the analytical
stages of the design process.