Amity School of Architecture and Planning

B.Arch Programme, IX Semester

Theory of Urban Design

ARCH503
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Additional characteristics of an Urban

Space
Urban Design as a Technique
Visual Survey

Contents
Contents
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Learning Objectives

By end of this session you will be able to

understand the process or technique of how an
Urban design is attempted.

Learning Objectives
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Characteristics of an Urban Space:

i) Permeability
This refers to the number of alternative routes through an environment; it affects where people can go
and where they cannot. This offers choice through accessibility and must be considered at early
stages of design

ii) Variety
This refers to the range of uses availed to people in a given environment; it is the experience of a degree of
choice provided by intermix of uses

iii) Legibility
This refers to the ease with which people can understand the layout of a given environment and the kind of
opportunities it offers.
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Characteristics of an Urban Space:

v) Visual appropriateness
This refers to the detailed appearance of a place that makes people aware of the possible uses; it
affects the interpretations people put on places.

vi) Richness
This refers to the degree of choice in sensory experiences that a place offers to its users.

vii) Personalisation
This refers to the extent to which people can put their own stamp on a place; decisions about forms
and materials of the scheme must be carefully made to support personalization but also protect
public role.
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Urban Design as Technique

• Urban design is preoccupied with physical form and functional quality of the city.

• In terms of approach, it can be viewed as pure technique and/or city building process among
various actors

• The nature of objectives will depend on the context and scale/level of concern

• Thus, at one extreme an urban design plan may be specific including construction and financing
details (project level); On the other extreme, urban design may be generic; simply entail a set of
guidelines or rules, used to formulate a policy that affects the decisions of others
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Urban Design as Technique

Formal /Linear Process

This is a logical process, through spatial and formal means, that entails the
following main stages:

1. Problem identification
2. Goal and Objective-setting
3. Situational analysis
4. Synthesis
5. Evaluation
6. Implementation
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Problem Identification:
• What is not right?
• What liabilities?
• Whose problem?...who is affected?
• Why is it a problem?
• When is it a problem?
• Where?
• What does it call for?

….In a stable environment, this may seem a straight forward thing….but in a

pluralist environment (diverse), there may be contested issues, stakes, and
vested interests!
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Goal and Objective setting:

• Goals are fairly loose statements of principle that establish a direction, and would hardly provide
measurable variables for gauging success.

• Objectives are translations of goals into something that is achievable; hence their statement is more
programmatic and measurable.

• Urban design goals and objectives can occur at any scale of urban design (macro to micro). An
urban design scheme devoid of clear goals and objectives can easily be dismissed.

• In contemporary societies, change is the norm and the goals of individuals and groups are
frequently at odds, making it complicated a task to undertake.
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Goal and Objective setting:

Locale/scale Goal (example) Objective (example)

Region To engender a feeling of the countryside To develop parks along all the waterways that
into the city connect developed urban areas and open
countryside

City To maintain the downtown area as a To create economic incentives for downtown
strong metropolitan centre reinvestment

Neighbourhood To reduce conflicts between residential To create visual and acoustical buffers using
and industrial land uses fencing and landscaping between all residential
property that abuts industrial land uses

Block To maintain the sense of visual enclosure To limit new development to existing building
that presently exists on the street heights and setbacks in conformance with existing
street character
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Situational Analysis:
• Through inventories and other data collection techniques.

• Considerations:
land use, population, transportation, natural systems, and topography; the
varied character of areas, structure of neighbourhoods, business areas etc.

• Central to understanding the structure, organization, and pattern of urban

areas

• Includes:
Visual survey;
Identification of hard and soft areas;
Functional analysis
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Visual Survey:
• Graphic examination of the key physical elements and functional character of an area.

• A vocabulary of symbols exist: edge, path, node, landmark, district (after Lynch) that enables an
urban designer to characterize, in graphic form, the key elements of the urban fabric.

• Visual survey is an urban design tool used to communicate the perceptions of the structure and
organization of a city.

• Imageability/legibility: A more legible city makes us feel less anxious about finding our way about
in the city
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Identification of Hard and soft areas:

• “Hard” and “soft” is concerned with “buildable” and “non-buildable” and does not necessarily
coincide with “built” and “unbuilt” .

• Delineation of the urban fabric into hard and soft areas assists the designer in identification of the
parts of the city that can accommodate growth and change, against those that are essentially fixed
because they may be occupied by say historic monuments or cemeteries

• Thus, a hard area may be a public park near the city’s central business district that, despite the
shortage of land, cannot be identified for new construction. On the other hand, a soft area may
include neighbourhood or commercial district with an increasing number of vacant buildings or
with condemned building stock that gives an opportunity for redevelopment.
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Functional Analysis:
• This examines the relationship of activities among the various land uses and how they
relate to circulation systems.

• This relates closely with the work of land use planners, the difference being that the
urban designer carries out such a study into three dimensions.

• For instance, increase in building heights will call for widening of streets to
accommodate both motorized and pedestrian traffic.
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Synthesis:
• Data collected and the analysis of the problem are translated into design proposals for action

• Design concepts that reflect an understanding of the constraints of the problem and propose
optimum solutions, based on trade-offs such as between motor traffic and pedestrians

• Main activities include:

Evolution of concepts for development
Development of schematic design
Preliminary Designs
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Evaluation:
• Based on two main criteria:
- How well the solutions fit the problem
- How readily the proposals can be implemented.

Thus, evaluation may examine:

o ability to meet objectives
o ability to gain public acceptance
o meeting financial and technical demands
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Implementation:
• Devising the actual strategies for financing and construction.

• Implementation relies on two main tools:

- Land use controls: include the traditional/Euclidean zoning ordinance, Planned Unit
Development, Incentive/Bonus zoning, and Transfer of Development Rights

- Capital expenditures: these shape the pattern of land use by altering land values through the
provision of access and utilities.

• In this age of participation, successful implementation of urban design projects will rely
on both capital expenditures and eminent domain (popularity).
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Components of a visual survey

1. Image of the city
2. Landform and Nature
3. Local Climate
4. Shape of urban form
5. Size and Density
6. Pattern, Grain, and Texture
7. Urban Spaces and Open Spaces
8. Routes of movement
9. Districts/Enclaves/Sectors
10. Activity structure
11. Orientation
12. Details
13. Pedestrian areas
14. Vistas and skylines
15. Non-physical Aspects
16. Problem Areas
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Non-physical Aspects:
• These are non-architectural aspects of urban character that are still a large
part of a city’s image and personality
• Historical aspects, public ceremonies and events
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Problem Areas::
• These have to be mapped out during visual survey

• The problem map represents urban design diagnosis of ills!

• It may include: points of conflict (in land use, circulation etc.); areas with little or
no sense of orientation; non-descript or grey areas; ugliness; communities lacking
form and definition; areas with confusing signs; areas of decay and crime;
confusing circulation; incomplete routes etc.
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Recording results of a Visual Survey:

• Visual surveys are commonly recorded as simple maps accompanied by sketches,
photographs, and descriptive notes.

• The sketches, photographs, and descriptive notes can be attached to the map into an
aggregate drawing or report
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Visual Survey Recording Checklist

• A set of maps might include the following:
1. Topography
2. Microclimate – sun , wind, storm directions etc.
3. Shape
4. Patterns, textures, and grains
5. Routes
6. Districts
7. Landmarks and nodes
8. Open Spaces
9. Vistas
10. Magnets, generators, and linkages
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Visual Survey Recording Checklist (Cont’d)

11. Special activity centres and overall activity structure
12. Hubs of intense visual experience
13. Strong and weak areas of orientation
14. Sign areas
15. Points of conflict
16. Historic or special districts
17. Community structure
18. Areas of preservation, moderate re-modelling, and complete overhaul
19. Places needing clarifying design elements
20. Sketch maps of prominent urban features and form
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References;
1. Sennett Richard 1969, Classical Essays on the Culture of Cities, Prentice Hall, New Jersey
2. The American City: What Works and What Doesn't
by Alexander Garvin (1995)
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Thank You