Documenting the city: The system of Design and Process of Urban Design Presentation

Urban design is expected to follow a systematic process which connects knowledge to action, and adapts
to the project ‘s specific circumstances, where the urban designer brings knowledge from previous analysis
and experience, and generates new ideas guiding the process into realization (Palazzo and Steiner 2011).

1. Preparing a Design Brief – where a design concept for the site is established
✓ A design brief should consider these main subject areas:
o means of access by road and by other modes of transport
o the relationship of the pedestrian, cyclist, and the car
o safety in the public realm
o quality of design in street and public square including notes on achieving vitality and
permeability
o the identity and legibility of place
o features of sustainable development
o open space and landscape strategy

2. Survey – techniques done in surveying depend on the nature and scale of the project
✓ Techniques used in moderate-to-large scale projects:
o Historical Analysis - Understanding the genius loci or the spirit of the place provides the key
to charting the direction for future development. Peeling back the layers of history which
encrust the modern city reveals the reasons for its present form and function.
o Townscape Analysis – It has 3 main aspects:
▪ Legibility of the urban structure
▪ Ways in which people perceive, understand & react to the environment. It concerns
those qualities of a place which give it an immediate identity, one which is quickly
perceived or grasped by its users.
▪ Permeability of the environment
o Visual Study - Studies of urban space, the treatment of facades, pavement, roofline, street
sculpture, and an analysis of the complexity of visual detail which distinguishes one place
from another.

3. Analysis
✓ Process:
o Gathering of basic information - includes understanding of the structure, organization, and
pattern of urban areas
▪ suitability of the topography
▪ land area required for the new units
▪ adequacy of public utilities
▪ amount of traffic generated and necessary roadways to accommodate it
▪ parking space requirements
▪ additional requirements for schools, parks, and playgrounds
▪ relevant zoning and subdivision ordinance
o Visual survey – analysis is done through the faculty of sight; it is a standard part of any urban
design study
▪ examination of the form
▪ appearance
▪ composition of a city/neighborhood
 ▪ involves the elements of urban form (Kevin Lynch: Paths, Edges, Nodes, Landmarks,
Districts)
o Identification of hard and soft areas
▪ Hard areas: public parks
▪ Soft areas: business districts
▪ Some of these areas can accommodate growth and change while some are
essentially fixed
o Functional analysis - examines the relationship of activities among the various land uses and
the way they relate to circulation systems

4. Synthesis – it is where the data gathered and the analysis of the problem are translated into a proposal
for action.
✓ First component: the evolution of concepts that address the problem
✓ Second: development of schematic design proposals which are specific in nature
✓ Third: preliminary plans

5. Evaluation
✓ occurs at many levels, ranging from meeting technical demands to the ability to gain public
acceptance
✓ when the design proposals are complete, they are evaluated in light of the original problem or issue
they were intended to address.
✓ one of its complicated tasks is determining what criteria should be employed
✓ 2 basic categories:
o how well the solutions fit the problem
o how readily the proposals can be implemented

6. Implementation – it is where the strategy for actual financing and construction is formulated
✓ detailed phasing studies and tools are considered to realize the project

Design Implemen-
Survey Analysis Synthesis Evaluation
Brief tation

The process of urban design has been under development for many years; there have been many efforts to
model the urban design process. The following are a few examples of models suggested by different
architects, urban designers and planners, where a sequence is theoretically the means to implement
successful urban design.

✓ RIBA Urban Design Process Model – this model was formulated by RIBA which was based on
Moughtini’s book, The Urban Design Method and Techniques as a Method of Urban Design Process
(Palazzo and Steiner 2011).
✓ Levy’s Urban Design Process Model - the process consists of four levels; Analysis, synthesis,
Evaluation, and implementation (Levy, 2009). Levy’s model is one of the most detailed for urban
design processes.

✓ Carmona’s Urban Design Process Model - urban design processes are categorized at macro scale
into two forms
o Unknowing design, by which many towns have been developed - It is the result of
accumulation of small scale, try and error, decisions and interventions slowly and
incrementally, and never designed as a whole.
o Knowing design, by which different problems and concerns are shaped, and controlled
through different design proposals, plans and policies – it follows 4 phases
▪ Brief setting
▪ Design
▪ Implementation
▪ Post-Implementation review
o Through these phases, the urban designer is expecting to go through a few stages as
follows:
▪ Setting goals: with different
stakeholders, with regard to
economic and political realities
▪ Analysis: gathering and analyzing
data to inform the design
solutions phase
▪ Envisioning: generation several
solutions and possibilities
through previous experience and
different design theories
▪ Synthesis: testing the proposed
solutions to recognize workable
solutions
▪ Decision-making: refining proper
solutions
▪ Evaluation: review the product
against the initial goals
✓ Moughtini’s Urban Design Process Model – The urban design process has been described in
practice as a series of decisions following a certain sequence starting analysis, then synthesis and
appraisal and finally a decision, and the process is repeated with more details for more detailed
levels of design
o Analysis: It is the basic gathering of information through local planning scope, functional
analysis (goals and objectives definition, and information patterns), and visual survey
o Synthesis: It is the analysis of Potentials, constrains and problems leading to the idea
generation, and appraisal.
o Appraisal: It is the evaluation of the offered idea proposals, and solutions against the initial
goals and objectives of the process, as well as the cost efficiency and other constrains.
o Implementation: It is the final phase after many return loops of evaluation. (Moughtin, et al.
1999)

✓ Barry Young’s Urban Design Process Model - suggested five stages for the urban design process,
which is mostly similar to any normal design process from the analysis and criteria, then design
options and evaluation until implementation.