Urban Design in context

Urban design is not a stand-alone discipline.
It is a holistic way of thinking about, planning, designing, developing and managing places.
It is interdisciplinary by nature and practice, recognising the specific skills of a wide range of disciplines who separately and together share the aim of improving both the functionality and aesthetics of our towns and cities.

Urban design very much relates to specific places, but it also reflects the experience of the whole city, and other times and places. It is, in many ways, a large but simple expression of the cultures in which we live.

…I suggest that it is the multiplicity of voices in a genuine public debate that is the wellspring of imaginative urban design. The urban design task is to catch the public imagination for better urban futures. We have come a long way but we have hardly begun… Kim Dovey

Changing the urban imaginary – Melbourne Swanston Street 1985 Kim Dovey

…Cities are a game we cannot afford to get wrong. They need to be at the forefront of national, state and local agendas. Urbanization is the current revolution and urban design is the foundation of designing and building better cities… Rob Adams

…the challenge is to apply urban design as both a creative problem-solving and value-adding process (the means) and not simply as an outcome (the end)… Malcolm Snow

…The nation will realise that urbanists are the ones to maximise value (and do more with a little less) out of our tightening global and urban resources… Juris Greste

…Some of the most significant lessons were: the need for committed and persuasive action at many levels from the Cabinet down; the great importance of the highest possible quality of design for all public spaces; effective guidelines and other action to try to achieve the best possible design quality from private developers (always difficult); how to ensure that when appropriate urban design guidelines are put in place they won’t be completely ignored by new ministers and especially ministers in governments of different political persuasion (even more difficult); and getting something of high quality on the ground quickly… David Yencken

…Stronger empirical testing against underpinning premises of completed urban designs could be the unifying domain for all of the professions in both urban design education and practice. For urban design to become more than a worthy field of professional activity, more rigorous testing of theory is required. This is education’s challenge… Gordon Holden

…Transport oriented development is not just a planners’ utopia. It is essential to create conditions for stronger communities where everyone can have the greatest choice and ability to participate in the community and in workplaces… Lucy Turnbull

…Urban design type people, like hairdressers running their eye over your fringe, or dentists spotting your next filling, cannot help seeing places as they might be. And this is naturally a recipe for continued frustration and un- fulfilment. The canvas is ever-changing and the project never quite complete… Marc Bartsch 

…Australian cities are enjoying international attention as they consistently perform well in indices ranking quality of life and liveability, some of the best measures for overall city quality we have. This is not by chance…We see the biggest future challenges in the problems of the suburbs as well as new developments, and so continue to seek to develop new tools for tackling suburbs, making liveable whole cities… Jan Gehl