What is Good Urban Design?

WHAT IS GOOD URBAN DESIGN?

In its most general sense, urban designers intend to improve the quality of people’s lives through design.
They accomplish this through the elimination of barriers as well as the creation of opportunities for people to
move about the city in a free, safe, and pleasant way. For example, one should be able to walk through a
reasonable portion of an urban area in inclement weather without major difficulty.

People like to see other people and to be seen. Many cities provide incentives for developers who will create
public plazas in conjunction with new developments. Such spaces provide an opportunity for people to sit in
the sun on lunch breaks and observe the general activity of the street. William Whyte, in The Social Life of
Small Urban Spaces, reports a systematic study of the factors contributing to successful urban spaces.6 He
concludes that some form of movable seating and the opportunity to purchase food and drink are key
elements.

Another way to evaluate the success of urban space is the way in which it assists in orienting the user. For
example, can users find their way from one place to the other without confusion or fear? Are the signs easily
understood? Are major pedestrian areas well lit in the evenings so that users can make their way easily and
safely?
Other functional criteria such as safety are also important. For example, separation of pedestrian and vehicular
traffic reduces accidents. Yet the spaces and circulation areas must be organized so that they can be readily
accessible to emergency vehicles and delivery vehicles.
Example:

Minneapolis, with its long, cold, snowy

winters, has accomplished this goal with a
system that links the second stories of
downtown buildings with climate-controlled
skyways. The skyways plus the connecting
corridors in commercial and public buildings
form a five-milesystem. People may travel
several blocks from parking structures or
apartments to offices or stores without having
to go down to street level. Some residents
“skywalk” for exercise and recreation.
According to urban designer Wendy Jacobson,
Both skyways and underground pedestrian systems
can drain city streets of the activity that makes them
lively, interesting, and safe. With few exceptions,
North American cities lack the density of pedestrian
activity to fuel both an active street frontage and a
competing above or below-grade system.
Something has to suffer and in most cases it is the
street. Privatization is also an important issue.
Although they may appear to be public spaces, most
skyways and underground walkways link privately
owned development. Unlike public streets, access to
these systems is normally restricted to certain times
and may even be restricted to certain people—those
appropriately dressed
Good design achieves its intentions and often more. For example, the developer’s intention in constructing a
mixed-use project may simply be to achieve a profitable combination of commercial and residential structures.
Yet if the project is well situated and aesthetically attractive, its benefits will spill over onto adjacent areas. The
project might increase pedestrian traffic and hence enhance property values in adjacent retailing areas. Its
presence might also enhance the value of adjacent neighborhoods by making the area more interesting and
varied.

Myriad factors can affect the success of an urban design project. A list of a number of the more important
criteria for judging urban design follows:

1. Unity and coherence

2. Minimum conflict between pedestrians and vehicles
3. Protection from rain, noise, wind, and so on
4. Easy orientation for users
5. Compatibility of land uses
6. Availability of places to rest, observe, and meet
7. Creation of a sense of security and pleasantness.
The Neighborhood Concept

A very central concept in urban design, and a place where one can see many of the previously noted criteria applied,
is the “neighborhood.” One of the first clear articulations of the neighborhood concept in the United States was that
by Clarence Perry done in the 1920s.
A neighborhood is a unit that matches the daily scale of most people’s lives. Traditionally, the neighborhood
planning unit is the area that would contain a population sufficient to supply the pupils for one elementary school.
Perry wrote in terms of 1,000 or 1,200 pupils, which in the 1920s implied a total neighborhood population of 5,000
or 6,000.
Typically, the neighborhood plan will provide for residences, a school, shopping facilities for goods that one buys
frequently (grocery, drug, and stationery stores but not department stores or automobile dealers), playgrounds, and
perhaps small parks. The street pattern will serve the resident population but discourage through traffic. Major
thoroughfares will often serve as neighborhood boundaries. The well-designed neighborhood is likely to be laid out
with common areas so that residents encounter each other in ways that promote social relationships. The
neighborhood is thus structured to provide conveniently and safely much of what most people need and use in their
daily lives.
The neighborhood concept circa the
1920s. The separate boys’ and girls’
playgrounds seem archaic today, but
the plan otherwise has many modern
features—separation of commercial
and residential areas, a curvilinear
street pattern to discourage through
traffic, the preservation of
community open space,
concentration of high-density
housing near public transportation.
Note that the neighborhood is built
around a public school.