Urban design
The references below are arranged alphabetically by publisher. Click on the blue text for full text. Links to relevant websites can be found towards the bottom of the page.
Click on the Urban design heading in the Popular topics box on the right of the page for other references.
This page was updated on 1 September 2014.
AMION Consulting
Economic value of good design in a recession
May 2009
Business in the Community
Creating a sense of place: a design guide
February 2006
Cambridge Cycling Campaign
April 2008
Chartered Institute of Housing
Creating and sustaining mixed income communities: a good practice guide
June 2006
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
Affordable housing: Better by design
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
Building for Life: Evaluating housing proposals set by step
2008
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
2008
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
2006
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
The councillor’s guide to urban design
November 2003
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
Creating excellent buildings: A guide for clients
2003
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
Creating successful masterplans: A guide for clients
2008
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
Design coding: Testing its use in England
2005
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
Design and access statements: How to write, read and use them
2006
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
Design review: How CABE evaluates quality in architecture and urban design
July 2006
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
March 2004
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
2004
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
Helping local people choose good design: Design review network annual report 2009/10
August 2010
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
Improving the design of new housing. What role for standards?
2010
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
Inclusion by design: Equality, diversity and the built environment
November 2008
Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment (CABE) and Mayor of London
Open space strategies: Best practice guidance
May 2009
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
Paved with gold: the real value of street design
2007
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
Planning for places: Delivering good design through core strategies
2009
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
Protecting design quality in planning
2003
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
Simpler and better: Housing design in everyone’s interest
2010
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
This way to better streets: lessons from 10 successful streets
2007
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
2006
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
The value of housing design and layout
2003
Department for Communities and Local Government
Councillors’ guide to creating quality public spaces
August 2008
Department for Communities and Local Government
May 2007
Department for Communities and Local Government
Preparing design codes: A practice manual
November 2006
Department for Communities and Local Government et al
2007
Department for Communities and Local Government
World class places: The Government’s strategy for improving quality of place
May 2009
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
World class places: Action plan
2009
Department for Transport
Attitudes to streetscape and street uses
January 2005
Department for Transport
Mixed priority routes: Practitioners’ guide (Local Transport Note 3/08)
October 2008
Department for Transport
Pedestrian guardrailing (Local Transport Note 2/09)
April 2009
Department for Transport
October 2011
Department for Transport
Traffic management and streetscape (Local Transport Note 1/08)
2008
Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions
Better places to live by design: a companion guide to PPG3
September 2001
Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions
Green spaces, better places: Final report of the Urban Green Spaces Taskforce
May 2002
Department of the Environment
Planning Policy Guidance: Planning and the historic environment (PPG15)
September 2994
Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions
By design. Urban design in the planning system: towards better practice
2000
Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions & CABE
2001
English Heritage
Streets for all: A guide to the management of London’s streets
March 2000
English Heritage
March 2008
European Commission
Reclaiming city streets for people: Chaos or quality of life?
September 2004
Housing Corporation
September 2008
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Markets as sites for social interaction
September 2006
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Public spaces, social relations and well-being in East London
September 2006
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
The social value of public spaces
2007?
Landscape Institute
Making it home: the power of landscape to create good housing
March 2010
Living Streets
March 2009
Llewelyn-Davies
Going to town: Improving town centre access. A companion guide to PPG6
2002
Mayor of London
November 2009
New Economics Foundation
Good foundations: towards a low carbon, high well-being built environment
2010
New London Architecture
Civilising spaces: Improving London’s public realm
2005
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Better streets, better places: Delivering sustainable residential environments
2003
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
How to improve residential areas
June 2007
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Living places: Caring for quality
2004
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Living places: Cleaner, safer, greener
2002
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
September 1998
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Planning and access for disabled people: A good practice guide.
January 2003
Renew Northwest at al
Creating inspirational spaces: a guide for quality public realm in the northwest
2008?
Roger Evans Associates
September 2007
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
The privatisation of public space
March 2006
RUDI
Living spaces: Celebrating quality and innovation in urban living
2010
RUDI
2008
RUDI
2009
RUDI
2010
RUDI
2012
Scottish Government
Delivering better places in Scotland: A guide to learning from broader experience
2010
Transform South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire Residential Design Guide: Consultation draft
June 2010
Working Group on Urban Design for Sustainability
Urban design for sustainability
January 2004
Local authority reports
Dublin City Council
Your city your space: Draft Dublin City Public Realm Strategy
2011
Edinburgh City Council
The Old and New Towns of Edinburgh World Heritage Site Management Plan 2011-2016
2011
Essex County Council
Essex design guide: Urban place supplement
2005
Exeter City Council
Residential design: Supplementary Planning Document
September 2010
Leeds City Council
Neighbourhoods for living: A guide for residential design in Leeds
December 2003
London Borough, Croydon
Croydon’ public realm strategy 2006/09
2006?
Peterborough City Council
Peterborough public realm strategy
2008
Stoke on Trent City Council
Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stoke-on-Trent Urban Design Guidance Supplementary Planning Document
December 2011
Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead
Maidenhead Town Centre Public Realm Strategy
2009
Websites
Beam is a company dedicated to the imaginative understanding and improvement of the public realm. It aims: to create better understanding about the importance of the arts and good design; to make stronger connections between professionals and the public; and to celebrate the arts and good design in places and spaces as a powerful contributor to personal, economic and community wellbeing.
This new website is a collaboration between Warwick Business School and the Design Council uniting behavioural science with design-thinking. It aims to help organisations from all sectors understand the role of behaviour in the challenges they face and adopt new approaches through design-led innovation. Current projects are related to health and wellbeing, sustainability and consumer empowerment.
An international blog by young academics covering urban planning and design, city economics, human geography and city photography.
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
From 1999 to 2011 CABE gave independent advice to help people create better buildings and spaces. This is an archived site containing information selected for preservation. See Design Council below.
The Design Council and CABE have merged to deliver design support and advice to industry, communities, central and local government.
Eight not-for-profit organisations that promote better and more sustainable places to stimulate economic growth have come together to form the Design Network. Each Network member has a proven track record of delivering successful Design Review Panels. This service ensures that planning and development proposals for building and public spaces are sustainable, cost effective, user friendly, attractive and fit for purpose. The work goes well beyond Design Review to include training, community engagement, economic development, design workshops, advice to local authorities, neighbourhood planning support, and promotion of the new Building for Life 12 standard.
It aims to highlight a carefully edited selection of the best architecture, design and interiors projects from around the world. Dezeen was launched at the end of November 2006 and has grown rapidly to become one of the most popular and influential architecture and design blogs on the internet.
With 25 years of experience, Artscape has a longstanding commitment to sharing its experience in Toronto with communities elsewhere. Artscape DIY is a central component of the Knowledge exchange programmes and services offered in order to: engage communities across Canada and beyond in the cultural, environmental, social and economic contribution of creative placemaking; build community capacity to integrate creative and cultural facilities and activities into the cultural, social and economic fabric of their communities through creative placemaking projects; build a community of practice in creative placemaking.
The Glass House: Community-led design
This is a national charity that gives both communities and regeneration professionals the skills and confidence to lead and contribute to design and neighbourhood planning that involves and benefits local people. The result is better collaboration between communities and professionals and more intelligent, dynamic and sustainable places. It also uses its experience of supporting neigbourhood projects throughout the UK to promote discussion and to influence policy and practice around community led design.
Charles Landry is an international authority on the use of imagination and creativity in urban change. He helps cities identify and make the most of their resources and to reach their potential by triggering their inventiveness and thinking. His aim is to help cities become more resilient, self-sustaining and to punch above their weight. His work is highlighted in his updated website. He is working on four themes:How you make great cities; The idea of ‘civic urbanity’, which seeks to rethink urbanity in 21st century terms; The creative bureaucracy concept, which looks at how public administrations can reassess how they operate afresh; and The ‘creative cities index’, which is a way to measure the pulse of a city and its imaginative capacity.
An independent, not for profit organisation that aims to be at the centre of creating better places – and a better city. It champions excellence in design quality and advocates an inclusive and informed approach to the development of our city. In September 2011 a joint CABE and English Heritage built environment education programme, Engaging Places, was transferred to Open City Architecture.
Project for Public Spaces (PPS), based in New York, is a non-profit planning, design and educational organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces that build stronger communities. Its pioneering Placemaking approach aims to help citizens transform their public spaces into vital places that highlight local assets, spur rejuvenation and serve common needs.
Resource for Urban Design Information (RUDI)
RUDI is the largest web resource dedicated to urban design and placemaking. RUDI commissions, researches and creates materials for professionals in the public and private sector. RUDI was created in 1996 as a joint project under the UK’s eLib (Electronic Libraries) Programme, set up following a review of university libraries by the UK Higher Education Funding Councils. Supported by a panel of independent editorial advisors, RUDI offers a unique combination of publishing expertise, practising professionals and academics and features more than 5,000 documents, 20,000 pages and more than 9,000 images.
Urban Design Collective (UDC) is a non-profit organization that works as a collaborative platform for professionals from the fields of Architecture, Urban Design/ Planning to promote livable and sustainable cities through community engagement.
Founded in 1978, the Urban Design Group is a campaigning membership organisation. The Group works to: promote best practice in urban design; build an effective framework of policy in local and central government; improve skills among those who shape the built environment; promote collaboration in the urban design process; show decision-makers the value of urban design; and make urban design and planning accessible to everyone.
Urban Design London aims to help practitioners create and maintain well-designed, good quality places. It does this by offering training, events, meetings, design reviews and surgeries, online resources and more. Register for free to access material and contribute to the debate.
UrbanNous provides access to digital multimedia focusing on urbanism. Urbanism is defined as the study and development of cities, from the physical form of buildings, infrastructure and open space, to the culture politics and economy. The aim is to take theory and practice out of the box, with contributors explaining their projects and ideas, making these accessible and inspirational. Multimedia presentations can be viewed on this site, arranged as follows: Urban Design London online training; Urban Design Group lecture programme; and Delivering Design Quality online video training.
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