Urban Design & Planning
Urban Design and Planning emerged as a discipline in response to changes to the city through the modern movement in Architecture and Planning. It is the collaborative and multidisciplinary process of shaping the physical setting for life in cities, towns and villages; the art of making places; design in an urban context. Urban design involves the design of buildings, groups of buildings, spaces and landscapes, and the establishment of frameworks and processes that facilitate successful development. It takes the responsibility of achieving wholeness of the built environment. This degree program exposes the students to various theories and experiments that architects, planners, social and behavioural scientists apply within the broad historical, social and political contexts. The program impacts knowledge and skills of environment at varying scales through a broad range of subjects which form the basis to tackle urban design issues.
Skills / Processes:
Urban design is about making connections between people and places, movement and urban form, nature and the built fabric. Urban design draws together the many strands of place-making, environmental stewardship, social equity and economic viability into the creation of places with distinct beauty and identity. Urban design draws these and other strands together creating a vision for an area and then deploying the resources and skills needed to bring the vision to life.
Urban design theory deals primarily with the design and management of public space (i.e. the 'public environment', 'public realm' or 'public domain'), and the way public places are experienced and used. Public space includes the totality of spaces used freely on a day-to-day basis by the general public, such as streets, plazas, parks and public infrastructure. Some aspects of privately owned spaces, such as building facades or domestic gardens, also contribute to public space and are therefore also considered by urban design theory.
Career Opportunities:
Urban designers make significant contribution as members of multidisciplinary teams dealing with the formulation and implementation of urban development programs and policies. A large number of employment opportunities exist for the students passing out with the urban design degree.
Urban Design & Planning Schools to Consider