Urban Design and Community

Urban design is the process of determining how to physically shape a

community while taking into account a variety of goals and interests through an
open, public decision-making process. Urban design, which combines the disciplines
of architecture, planning, and landscape architecture, addresses the aesthetic and
functional aspects of the built environment on a variety of scales, from the small-
scale neighborhood, park, or block to the larger community, city, or region.
Urban design, as defined by the late University of Washington Professor Meyer
Wolfe, is the “manipulation of the physical environment” in a way that:
 Addresses the way people perceive and behave in their surroundings,
 Considers the implications of form-giving actions (including the environmental
and ecological consequences) at a range of scales (sometimes from the
individual to the regional),
 Pursues multiple objectives for multiple clients (including affected members of
the public), and
 Is conducted through an explicit decision-making process that offers the
public the opportunity to participate in a meaningful way, identifies goals and
objectives, analyzes existing conditions, explores alternate concepts and
solutions, evaluates options with respect to project goals and public values,
selects the preferred alternative or combines preferred elements into a
synthesized concept, and includes an implementation strategy.
This is a powerful definition because:
 It carries a set of implicit values that all applicable urban design activities
should pursue.
 It provides a useful checklist for designers, planners, engineers, and other
practitioners to use such that they are addressing urban design’s inherent
values (as noted above).
 It describes a rational participatory process and provides a clear methodology
for applying urban design concepts.

Key Components of an Effective Approach

Urban design is distinct from master planning for a single client in that it is
focused on achieving a range of goals for all people within a city, which is a crucial
distinguishing factor. Urban design can offer solutions that solve multiple issues,
which can sometimes require juggling conflicting interests. Design standards, for
instance, can assist guarantee that new buildings "fit" with their neighbors when
rezoning a community to permit various infill housing types.
Urban design addresses the sensory environment
How people view and interact with their environment is a topic of urban
design. The most useful tools for a planner to fulfill this demand are urban design
tools since people care about the appearance, feel, and livability of their
neighborhoods. To do this, urban planners must have a thorough awareness of how
people's perceptions and behaviors are influenced by their physical surroundings.
This requires them to be aware of cultural norms and preferences, societal
economics, and practical uses of the built environment.
Urban design considers the implications of form-giving actions in a range of
scales
A successful urban design project often takes into account both the conditions
inside the project's limits and the implications of the recommendations on the
surrounding area. These initiatives should also look at how the suggested actions
connect to the individual's past experiences. Urban design methods are useful for
addressing regional, landscape-scale goals as well. It is common to think of urban
design as simply addressing urban design features, like a park, street, or town
center.
Urban design uses an explicit, public decision-making process
In most public planning initiatives, broad and targeted engagement
approaches are essential, and urban design carries with it a range of instruments to
support meaningful participation from the public. This involves surveys of
participants' aesthetic preferences, in which they assess various building designs,
park elements, or environmental factors to determine which could fit best within their
neighborhood. Hands-on activities that let participants pinpoint the kind and location
of desired improvements also seem to be well received by participants. Through
such activities, children and young people can contribute their ideas as well, and
many urban design challenges can be assessed utilizing web-based technologies.
Urban design offers a wide variety of public engagement tools that allow for
meaningful participation, and an urban designer can play an important role in the
city/community building process in at least two ways:
1. As a problem-solving supporter of a larger comprehensive planning or
infrastructure development effort; and
2. As a leader or manager of a complex, multi-disciplined professional team
working on a complex project.
 https://mrsc.org/Home/Stay-Informed/MRSC-Insight/March-2020/The-
Importance-of-Urban-Design-for-Your-Community.aspx

Urban design is concerned with a wide range of locations, including town and
city centers, suburban neighborhoods, green fields on the outskirts of villages, run-
down industrial estates, and unloved and underappreciated locales around train
stations, rivers, and canals. The characteristics of buildings and the spaces between
them are defined by urban design, as are the design processes and results. Urban
design provides ideas, examples, and definitions of how a location may be enhanced
or safeguarded to benefit developers, investors, and the general public.

Urban design is versatile and so urban designers can produce ideas and work
that is indicative or specific, strategic or detailed, and this is reflected in the types of
drawings, reports and ways of working commonly used:
 Urban design is visionary  creating a ‘vision’ to show the economic, social
and environmental benefits of investment or changes at a strategic scale over
 a wide area and over a long period of time. This is usually conveyed through a
vision statement, projecting forward 20-25 years’ time to explain the future
characteristics of an area and how people will use it. This can then be
complemented by a development framework, outlining the key physical
features that will deliver the vision.
 Urban design is fact-finding  urban designers gather data and evidence
about places to identify future options, and test the feasibility and viability of
change or development in context, for example transport and infrastructure
capacity, development character and density, environmental capacity issues
(such as flooding), plus local community needs and values. Feasibility studies
usually include options and a recommendation on the ‘best fit’ scenario.
 Urban design can be illustrative  using masterplans, artists’ impressions,
photomontages, 3D models and photographs of other successful places,
urban designers can bring to life how a development could look. This includes
highlighting important local characteristics, landmarks and public spaces.
Illustrative masterplans often show just one way in which design guidelines
can be built out.
 Urban design setting specifications  site-specific masterplans set out
precise proposals for which planning consent is being sought, and the use,
size, form and location of buildings, roads and open spaces, which are fixed.
A local planning authority may prepare a site-specific development brief,
which sets out the main characteristics required, and it allows developers to
draw up a proposed scheme in response. Masterplans and design codes
bring together plot-specific requirements for a site, which development
proposals will need to comply with in order to be approved.
A local planning authority can also identify district-wide character design
policies, which set out a combination of broad-brush design ideas - relating to
materials and roof styles, for example - and specific requirements, such as minimum
back-to-back distances for residential developments.
https://www.udg.org.uk/about/what-is-urban-design
Socio- cultural Basis of Design of Communities
One of the fundamental characteristics of "cultural rights" is its ability to
projective activity, productive imagination, creativity and free transform the reality on
the basis of "model of future needs. this ability is given by the very nature culture,
which is primarily a set of "design" (ideal, spiritual) methods and results of
development and transformation of the world.
Nature, society, man himself. the meaning of cultural activities, is it "improves
the character, the " cultivation' of all components of human existence, the ability to
show for their rights limits in the form of goal-setting, designing the ideal image of
man and world. in the process of production (and development, consumptions)
"cultural object" man reflected, for its perfect, ideal forms, ideal structure of artistic
product, ideal forms of social device, the ideal relationship between people.
Facility design can be social (creating pattern social phenomena, social
institutions, new forms, of social devices, and public life, the development of
management systems, laws) pedagogical (the creation of models and images of the
ideal man in within the ethical and educational systems,).
Sociocultural perspective refers to a point of view that is built upon the idea
that society and culture are major factors influencing personal development.
There are many sociocultural factors referring to man; some examples are
religion, attitudes, economic status, class language, politics and law. These factors
can affect quality of life, business and health, but as future architects we will be
focusing to what planning and designing architecturally community should be.
Socio-cultural factors/basis
Demographic structure (eg. size and density of population, rate of population
growth, age and sex structure.)
Ethno-linguistic characteristics (ie, division of the population on the basis of
physical characteristics, such as race, tribe, clan or language):
Social structure (eg. leadership structures, division on the basis of class or caste,
gender relation, degrees and forms of cooperative activity):
Inheritance Systems including land tenure.
Religious Belief and Practices: Other cultural beliefs and practices (eg. particular
customs, ceremonies, taboos, prejudices):
Individual and group attitudes to any aspect of life (including actual pr proposed
development activities). Which may result from any of the other social characteristics
(eg. social structure, religious or cultural beliefs) and/or from the personal views of
the individuals or groups concerned.
History (eg. conditions of the land, Territorial aspects, landmarks, and the like):

Pros and Cons of having sociocultural basis of design

Pros:
 Sufficient data for analysis, you will be able to gather great information that
would help support analyzing phase.
 Adaptation, so far that the community will be able to consider the
development form the other neighbors and they will not have the feeling of
being alienated.
 Distinguishing, any area or community will be noticed according to ambiance,
people, architectural character, and etc.
Cons:
 Ideal/practical aspect because of modernity, as the generation goes by, the
activities of man become more realistic, ideal or practical.

https://prezi.com/mt__mn0d0gcz/socio-cultural-basis-of-design-of-communities-
planning-2/