URBAN DESIGN

M.MARIESWARI

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
FINAL YEAR- ARCHITECTURE JK COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE
 INTRODUCTION TO URBAN DESIGN

Urban design is the process of giving form, shape, and character to groups of
buildings, to whole neighborhoods, and the city.

When did the term "urban design" start to be

commonly used?

Urban design initially evolved at the end Actually a postmodern

of 1960s as a critique of the built phenomenon. It is distinguished
environment produced by modernist from urban planning about thirty
architects, urban planners, landscape years ago and became a very
architects and the other related effective tool for professionals
professionals involved in the making of who manage the cities.
public realm.
QUESTIONS

Why is urban design becoming more important?

When did the term "urban design" start to be

commonly used and when did "urban design" as
distinct from planning?
 Why Urban Design is Important?

ECOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL

SIGNIFICANCE

Urban design involves There is a cruel According to ALGA

modifying the natural competition between the Guide, (Association of
countries that are seeking Local Government
environment.
to get a larger piece from Auditors), an important
the global economy. factor determining why
It follows, therefore,
people choose to visit,
that the quality of the
Therefore the quality of invest in or relocate to
built environment will
the built environment is a particular place is the
have important
the key factor that "atmosphere" or the
implications for the
significantly affects local, "cultural identity".
natural environment.
regional and international
image of countries and
sets the stage for all
economic activity.
 ORIGINS:

‘Town’ is a noun and A ‘City’ is a place where
‘town design’ would people, and buildings,
be the art of designing behave in ‘civil’, ‘polite’ or
a physical object. ‘considerate’ manner to
each other
‘Urban’ (from the Latin
urbs, meaning city), is an
adjective so that ‘urban
design’ is the art of
making a place more
‘city-like’.

Town definition, a thickly populated area, usually smaller

than a city and larger than a village.

Therefore URBAN DESIGN is not = TOWN DESIGN

Urban design is the process of giving form, shape, and character to groups
of buildings, to whole neighborhoods, and the city.
 It is concerned with the arrangement, appearance and function
of our suburbs, towns and cities.

It is both a process and an outcome of creating localities in

which people live, engage with each other, and engage with
the physical place around them.

Including planning, development, architecture ,landscape

architecture, engineering, economics, law and finance, among
others.
URBAN DESIGN

URBAN DESIGN OPERATES AT MANY SCALES, from the macro scale

of the urban structure (planning, zoning, and transport and
infrastructure networks) to the micro scale of street furniture and
lighting.

Urban design can influence health and the social and cultural
impacts of a locality: how people interact
with each other, how they move around, and how they use a
place.
 Urban form is defined as the physical characteristics that make up built-up areas, including the
shape, size, density.
Macro scale is the length scale on which The microscopic scale is the scale of objects
objects or phenomena are large enough to and events smaller than those that can easily be
be visible. seen
URBAN GRAIN
ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN

BUILDINGS

PUBLIC SPACE

STREETS

LANDSCAPE

TRANSPORT
The creative articulation of space is the most prominent aspect of urban design. The following artistic
principles are an integral part of creating form and spatial definition
THE END