9/11/21, 10:28 AM 11 Urban Design Principles for Beginners

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Community
When urban design principles
Improvement
are applied consistently in a
Projects
Share neighborhood, city, or town, the
Community
appearance of both private
Organizations
sector new construction and the
Beautification public space between the edge of
Redevelopment the street and the front of the
Planning buildings will be enhanced.
Zoning And Property values should increase,
Development and the functioning of the street
Regulation will improve as well. If you are a
neighborhood or city leader,
Economic
understanding something about
Development
this topic helps you analyze why certain blocks are more appealing than
Sustainable
others and make good decisions about development or redevelopment. 
Development
Code Enforcement Below we give you 11 principles that will start you on the path toward
Housing good urban design. Urban design combines ideas from architecture,
landscape architecture,
and urban planning, with some general urban
Crime Prevention
theory in evidence as well. The term entered the vocabulary in the
Sprawl
1950s, but there is little agreement on its usage.
Visitor Q&A
However, most community people think that urban design principles
especially emphasize what may be called the public space. This public
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realm includes the street, sidewalk, and area between the street and
Sitemap the sidewalk, as well as civic buildings, plazas, parks, and greenways.

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You also will hear talk about building facades during passionate
discussions about urban design principles. Urban design tends
to be
defined in terms of objects, patterns, textures, repetitions, themes, and
disparate elements that one might observe from the street.

The scale of the discussion of urban design principles might legitimately

Share range from a block to an entire city. And despite the term
"urban
design," smaller towns and cities, including villages, need to become
very aware of urban design principles.

Citizens' List Of 11 Urban Design Principles

While the boundaries of the field may be elusive, we can and should set
forth some of the most obvious urban design principles that will help
you create a vibrant community. 

1. Centers And Nodes Set Up The Pattern For The City.

A village, town, or city needs one or more focal points, depending on

size. Traditionally these were the downtowns. Now most regions are
multi-centric (sometimes called polycentric). It's actually fine to have
more than one center in a large city, but sound urban design principles
would describe a hierarchy
of centers. The downtown
should the king
of the hill.

Node is simply a term more likely to be used by professionals for the

idea of an activity center or an area where traffic, money, information,
or other flows come together.

You might have employment centers, shopping centers, entertainment

centers, or multi-function activity centers.

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9/11/21, 10:28 AM 11 Urban Design Principles for Beginners

Each
center or node should exude a strong sense of place. If you were a
tyrant and you could make the perfect hierarchical set of nodes within a
major city, you also should make each center or node have some
distinctive elements.

So cultivating
a dynamic and exciting community center or hierarchy
of
centers, that most people can "read" intuitively, is perhaps the most
important of the urban design principles. When applied to a city or
town, "legible" means that people from the same culture have an
intuitive sense of what is coming next and how to navigate; thus we say
that they can read their surroundings.

Incidentally, sprawl ruins legibility.

2. Creating A Strong Sense Of Place Is Key To A Successful

Neighborhood.

Share If you hang around the architecture or planning communities, you'll

hear this term bandied about as if it were something
you learned in
kindergarten. I didn't learn it until much later, so let's talk.

Certainly distinguishing this place from other places on the basis of

history, culture, well-preserved natural systems, and distinctive human
inventiveness and ornamentation somehow stimulates the brain in a
pleasant way.

If
you flatten off the mountaintop, which I still see occasionally, haven't
you given up a very distinguishing feature? I'd love to see a mountain
outside my window now instead of asphalt, concrete, Bradford pear
trees, a distant awning, and a non-descript building.

Recognizing
history, including human history, natural history, and
cultural history, contributes greatly to the collective memory that helps
form a great community.

A district needs to feel like a district, that is, a relatively cohesive place
with boundaries.
In the influential 1961 book The Image of the City,
Kevin Lynch called
these boundaries "edges," and they should be
discernible.

If you work at the neighborhood scale, it's important to define your

neighborhood boundaries. The edges enhance sense of place also,
because they reinforce the notion that we are leaving one place and
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9/11/21, 10:28 AM 11 Urban Design Principles for Beginners

entering another. For more on this topic, see our answer to a site
visitor's question about the significance of community edges.

3. "Theme And Variation" Is Among The Key Urban Design

Principles.

Over and over in these pages, we are reminded that urban design
principles are similar to the key concept behind music, which is
establishing a theme or two, and then proceeding to endless but
delightful  variations and complexities rendered on the themes.

This is especially true when we consider architecture.  Buildings

on a
street may be generally two-story brick, but we might want to see
different colors of brick, slightly varying building heights, slightly
varying window and door patterns, inventive use of accent color, and
even the occasional three-story brick or stucco building that is in
sympathy with other building patterns on the face of the block.  Maybe
Share the cornice type and height varies along the block face.

So theme and variation is among the key urban design principles.

In a
town, you want some slight degree of predictability about buildings, in a
neighborhood a little more predictability, and on a block, still more
predictability.

Yet
in all cases, we still want to be surprised. We humans need variety
and delight in the creativity of others. Don't take that away if you want a
successful town or city.

But
if you shock us on every block with a radically different look and
feel, it's going to read like a museum of architecture and not a very
homey one at that.

4. Decide Where To Make A Design Statement, Make It, But

Don't Make It Everywhere.

Attention to quality, detail, and workmanship count in the public realm.

You would like each design element to look as though someone thought
about it, at least a little, and fit the form to the function.

In
other words, I want the door of the art museum to be a more
interesting
and unique door than the door to the paper cup factory. The
occasional
handmade and artful detail is essential to the perception
that
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9/11/21, 10:28 AM 11 Urban Design Principles for Beginners

You
don't have to be clever about traffic lights; predictability is more
important than a design statement there. However, when you have a
bench
along the sidewalk, it shouldn't look as though it came from the
discount store. Nor should I have to hang my feet out into the street to
use it.

The
benches, planters, street trees with tree grates, litter cans, and such
that you see along many commercial streets collectively are called a
streetscape, by the way. Often it's best not to spend money on
streetscape unless you can do it well.

So
decide where urban design principles need to be subtle and
functional, versus conscious and even decorative. Architects would
remind us that this means that there should be some thoughtful
"articulation" (doors, windows, details, and "relief" in the form of
different vertical planes on the front wall) on walls facing the public
realm, rather than simply blank walls.
Share
But
if you carry out an elaborate cornice system on the rear of the
building where no one can see it, maybe you're just being impractical.

Landmarks
are important in making people feel comfortable in a place,
but each building can't be a landmark. That would defeat the purpose.

In
the public space, your backflow preventer cover doesn't need to be
lavender, but maybe the flowers in your planters should be lavender
with
some yellow and white thrown in for contrast.

Usually your street furniture (benches and such) is important, but

perhaps an exquisite uplight for your street tree less so. That's a
judgment call, and one that requires a well-trained eye.

5. Urban Design Should Promote And Facilitate Social

Interaction.

Just walk across the plaza and meet me. Don't call me on your cell
phone from the driveway.

Seriously, social interaction is important because this is how we develop

empathy and form new acquaintances and friendships, based on
accidental association among classes and people with diverse outlooks.

In
the professional community, you will hear about related urban design
principles
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human scale implies everything from keeping street lighting

at a height
that lights the way for pedestrians, rather than only for cars, to
designing some places that are appropriate for intimate and semi-
private conversations in the public realm.

When
you build a great cathedral (who's done that lately?), you want it
to be awe-inspiring and to point to something far greater than human
scale.
But for most everyday interactions, including commerce, people
unconsciously respond very well to keeping street level features at the
human scale.

6. The Social System Should Be More Important Than Vehicular

Systems.

People are more important than machines. OK, you all say you agree.

But some of you really don't, because I see you build highways that
Share bisect neighborhoods, parishes, and extended families. When there is
only one path, and that path accommodates only machines, which could
describe how the interstate highways function in some parts of cities,
we're all in trouble. For one thing, wide highways can be used as blunt
instruments enforcing racial, ethnic, and economic inequalities.

And
when accommodating all the automobiles at the regional shopping
mall du
jour for the Saturday before Christmas means that we should
asphalt acres and acres, we're forgetting that people are more
important than our machines.

7. De-Emphasize Utilitarian, But Gray Portions Of The Public

Realm.

We mean those gray, brown, or rusty streets, roads,

stormwater inlets,
manholes, utility boxes, ugly bridges, and so forth.
With determined
effort, you can design an attractive and brightly colored street and you
certainly can build a good-looking bridge. By all means, paint some of
this gray stuff a vibrant color with a great design.

However, making every road an art statement isn’t the answer. The
answer is skinnier roads and more options for walking, cycling, and
transit. Look into a complete streets policy and see if you don't like it.

Land
use patterns and the amount of private land that each residence is
allowed to absorb are major determinants of how much of a
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metropolitan or micropolitan area must be devoted to roads and other

gray infrastructure.

So your urban design principles should emphasize compact

development patterns and the most narrow and unobtrusive
infrastructure that will accomplish the goal of a well-functioning flow of
people and goods.

One way to minimize utilitarian elements of the public realm is to

combine them on a single pole or in an unobtrusive area on top of a
building. For example, consider how your small cell technology for
broadband, satellite dishes, sensors for traffic control and many other
purposes, surveillance cameras, and lighting can be combined in the
least visually distracting manner possible.

8. Functional Methods Of Transporting People Of All Abilities,

Goods, And Utilities Are Essential.

Share
Here's where many American cities and towns are failing.

Is
it really functional to have every desirable destination lined up along
a single roadway, which then becomes ridiculously congested along
about
5:00 p.m. every Friday? Surely it is not.

Is
it useful for people to have to commute to work for 30 miles? Maybe
that is somewhat useful, but not economically efficient or friendly to
the environment.

In
most contemporary American cities, the pedestrian, the cyclist, the
scooter user, the baby carriage, and the skateboarder are all but
forgotten. Making it safe and easy for these people to move over the
land is an essential part of a functional transportation system.

The flows of people, electricity, water, freight, and so forth literally

comprise the urban structure. So the distribution of people, goods, and
energy should be redundant, intelligible, and efficient..

For
example, when a freeway is being rebuilt, we need an alternate
street system. This is why it's a mistake to destroy a historic street grid,
which allows for abundant detours that are only slightly less efficient
than the route of choice. Incidentally, it is very wise to question why the
freeway needs to be rebuilt at all; maybe tearing it down will breathe
new life into an area.
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A
system of cul-de-sacs may provide a comforting sense of familiarity,
and thus meet the intelligibility factor for those who live there.
However, visitors from outside the neighborhood won't find it so easy
to
navigate because it isn't redundant. And systems that don't have
ready
substitutes are unforgiving of small mistakes, or of people who
don't drive.

Kids,
the frail elderly, and the temporarily or permanently disabled
actually
comprise a substantial portion of the population, so we need to
accommodate their movement.

Your community also needs to start responding to and planning for

transportation trends, including the rapid rise of ride hailing services
and the coming era of autonomous vehicles. Both of these imply a
reduced need for on-street parking, but an increased need for drop-off
and pick-up zones where a few minutes of parking is allowed.

Share 9. Land Use Is Usually Secondary To Building Scale, Mass, And

Setbacks.

Elsewhere we describe how segregating land uses through zoning was

the norm in urban planning until a paradigm shift that began in the
1980s. And we're pretty consistent proponents of mixed-use
development. But that doesn't mean a complete hodge-podge.

Imagine trying to walk down a sidewalk by a street, and in this order you
pass:

A dry cleaner with a small amount of suburban type parking in

front of it
A typical big box discount store
An apartment complex with three or four driveways onto the
public street and two rows of parking in front of the first buildings
A large old single-family house
A four-story brick office building of vaguely Colonial architecture

This is disorienting, isn't it?

So not every mix of uses is a good one. Complete lack of consistency in

building setback and height, as well as a disparate set of uses, isn't
comfortable. So the soundest of urban design principles is that the land
and building uses need to be compatible with their neighbors,
particularly if you can see from one to another.Agree and Continue
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Is a concrete plant likely to need to be close to a Five-Star restaurant? I

think not. But would a loft condominium development marketing to
young people need to be near a moderately priced, loud, and
popular
restaurant? Yes, that would be a selling point.

10. Civic And Public Gathering Space Should Be Generous.

Probably civic space is simply another twist on the idea of a sense of

place, but let's emphasize that there should be a physical place where
people can have chance encounters
and also purposeful gatherings.

Every
culture needs to demonstrate its pride in some heritage or
accomplishment, and every democratic country needs places where
those who are unhappy can assemble.

But what makes a good civic space

is appropriate scale, visibility from
one end to the other, a sense of spaciousness adequate for the likely
Share number of participants, the look and feel of being "on purpose" without
being overly formal, and the capability for random patterns of
movement.

And pay attention to the new urbanist

idea of giving civic buildings and
spaces a prominent place within the community. Don't put them down
by the railroad track where no one else wants to be; make them the end
point of a great long view.

11. Urban Design Is Valuable But Complexity Should Be

Proportionate To The Population.

The larger the city, the more complexity it can bear in design elements,
and indeed some cityscapes thrive on nearly complete chaos.

Yet that can only be a pleasant experience when the human flow and
other flows within the city are already  large,
random, and slightly
chaotic. So complexity or simplicity needs to be compatible with the
number of inhabitants, whether permanent or on a seasonal or daytime
basis.

In
a small town, you can still manage layers of complexity, and the best
small towns do, as we discuss on the small town character page. But the
scale is drastically reduced. By this I mean that you might have a
complex rose garden 20 feet across, rather than the cacophony of
businesses, street vendors, street performers, entrances, signs, art,
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whimsy, and honking taxis that are part of the fun in a New York City
block.

The Evolving Field Of Urban Design

Urban design is a fascinating and certainly evolving field. People tend to

claim their particular slant on how communities should be formed as
representative of good urban design principles.

One of the search terms that found this page concerned whether these
principles are universal in all cultures. I tend to think not, but
we would
like to hear what some of you think.

My best advice is that you have to decide in your community on your

own urban design principles. If your town or city is full of life,
full of
people enjoying themselves, relating to one another, doing business
Share
with one another, and creating things, you have a great urban design,
whether the design professionals think so or not.

When everything is high concept design, nothing stands out; you're

better off with a well-functioning community full of people relating well
to one another, than with a too-precious and too self-conscious
"design."

On the other hand, you may be ready to try to enforce a community-

determined set of ideas about how all or part of your community should
look and function.  If so, please read our introduction to local design
guidelines, which might be either mandatory or advisory.  Such
standards are part of almost all historic district designations and
condominium master deeds, but increasingly are used to make local
design review less arbitrary.

Read More To Further Expand Your Thinking About Urban

Design

Commercial Local Historic Form Based Code Complete Streets

District District
Revitalization
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 > Community Beautification
 > Urban
Design Principles

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