Is Urban Design just big Architecture?

Today there exist a divide among professionals who call themselves urban designers. I believe this has been brought about by both a technological and cultural change that has happened in the professional development of the architectural professions, both building and landscape.

Both landscape and building architects will have no hesitation in calling themselves urban designers. In fact, in Australia the regulation of classifying your urban design credentials is relatively left at your discretion. Unlike, the registration procedures required for architecture, engineering or planning.

The town planning profession has tried to lasso urban design under their umbrella as shown through the membership structure of the Planning Institute of Australia, thus trying to bring some legitimacy to the discipline, but urban design is not just planning either. 

So, are they right! – Is urban design just big architecture?

It wasn’t until Kevin Lynch produced his seminal piece, The image of the city, some 50 years ago the urban planning finally started to break the design theoretical shackles from its architectural master.

Since then, numerous people have added to this deep well of theory that has now evolved into what some call a true profession, while others especially from the architectural fraternity do not see it as primary design learning but more secondary and obedient to there own institutional theorems.

While it is true that urban design was born from the architectural field, so too was planning and landscape design, then why shouldn’t Urban Design have its own professional body?

Is it because within Australia having such a small gene pool of the design fraternity that a fledgling body would struggle – as many of today’s ‘urban designer’s’ would find it hard to have a foot in each of the other professional bodies? Would this not be the same argument that was experienced by the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, over 30 years ago.

Perhaps the question is why would it be needed – but let’s tackle this question later and get back to the main issue about urban design being big architecture.

I am not a believer in this theorem. I believe that while the practice of urban design does indeed run a veil over the areas of architecture, it is does not fulfill the role of an architect. By that same argument I believe an architect does not cover all the areas required by a good urban design professional.

How many times have you heard of an architect saying they can do landscape design? I bet most landscape architects would have some very strong comments in regards to projects where they have had to amend the architect’s landscape design, not only on a technical side but also at a theoretical side.

The same goes for urban design, while some good principles and architectural ideas can be brought to the table by both building and landscape architects. It’s takes a very good trained urban designer to actually ensure the urban fabric of their area of expertise ‘the public realm’ meets not only architecture but also responds to the theory’s that this discipline has developed.

Today an urban designer needs to have skills to design at the human scale, while being able to extrude these to district or even regional scales. True they may not necessary replace planning experts or architects who do the intricate work at these scales but it is prudent for them to be able to distill and be able to apply the basis of their professions knowledge base.

For as we have seen from the modernist movement the fallacies of an architectural inspired world and the same resonations of urban planning as a functional monstrosity. Urban design provides a strong link between these great disciplines of architecture, however it is not big architecture, and architecture by default is not urban design.

I truly believe, and support the creation of a professional body within Australia and beyond for urban design. Not to act as a surrogate for architecture or planning but to stand on its own feet and continue to develop its own discipline’s thinking and skills in contributing to the design of Australia’s built environment.