The Place-shaping Continuum: A Theory of Urban Design

Process
The Author: Matthew Carmona

Based on experimental research in London, this article examines how public spaces in
modern cities are shaped.
The first part of the article examines urban design and discusses the Mongrel discipline.
Here it is discussed whether urban design is a discipline encompassing many different
intellectual disciplines or a subset of some disciplines. In order to understand this, the
author, who goes to the core of urban design, touches on what the real problem is. The
uncertainty arising from the urban design process and its results, the fact that the process
is multi-factor, the argument that this is "urban design" whether it is directed or not.
The author, who thinks that the process of urban design must first be understood to
solve this problem, he talks about an experiment conducted in London that lasted for 3
years. As a result, we can say that urban design is represented as a space-shaping
continuum integrated with time. The author argues that the urban design process started
long before "Contemporation". He examines the historical space processes of the city of
London, which has a history of almost 2000 years. We can observe how the process and its
results change with the development and change of society.
The article discusses 4 key ground shaping processes later. These are: Shaping through
design, Shaping through development, Shaping through use and Shaping through
management.
Ultimately, it is assumed that public space design cannot be grasped without
understanding all factors acting together in shaping the process and the results of all
development projects. We must accept the urban design process as an integrated process
from history to the present and tomorrow. Urban design is not a deliberate response to a
borrowed intellectual structure and it is not a rejection in itself of the concept of urban
design because it is still evolutionary, or because it has a hybrid and difficult nature.
Urban design; It represents an ongoing sustainable journey where spaces are continually
improved and reshaped through planned interventions, daily practices and long-term
preservation of space.
At the end of the article, the author concludes that "the 'process', although very complex
and very diverse, is the core of urban design.'' Other factors will be less important if the
core is recognized.

Source of article:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13574809.2013.854695?
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