Urban design studentship - Essay Example

Urban Design Sir Stuart Lipton (2008) introduces the concept of urban design by reminding his audiencethat “every town and city is special to the people who live or work there … Every day countless decisions are made that have the potential to make a piece of a city, town or village a little more lively, welcoming and pleasant, or a little more hostile.” Urban design has been defined as “a unique, three-dimensional multidisciplinary approach aimed at achieving safe, functional and aesthetically relevant public environments for local communities” (Tesdorpf et al, 1997).

Studying design in the context of urban locations is essential to practical training because of the importance of being able to see real people within the designed spaces. The importance of the understanding the urban spaces as a means of understanding the people that live there is emphasized by the development of urban archaeology, a study “concerned with the reconstruction of the natural and human environment within which and as part of which human actions take place” (Chapter 8, 2008).

This is because the whole purpose of urban design is to create a pleasing “visual effect of building masses, connections with people and places, creation of spaces for movements, urban amenities and public realm, and … improving the overall townscape” (Government, 2006). In working out the management of a specific place, there are invariably a number of people involved in the process and, when becoming enveloped within the design process, it is often too easy to forget to consider the actual use of the spaces being designed, the history involved and the personal connections that have been made with the space.

“There is a core group whose understanding of the relationship between urban structure, spaces and buildings, and ability to develop three-dimensional concepts is central” (Olszewski & Pudlowski, 2001). This understanding can only be acquired by experience.Practical experience of designed spaces enables the urban designer to begin understanding the various ways in which people have used a particular location in ways that are difficult to simulate using tools such as augmented reality. “Sensations triggered by ‘grasping’ and ‘moving’ aid the designers’ cognitive process and their awareness of ‘being inside’” (Seichter & Schnabel, 2005), but the actual physical space remains difficult to understand in the virtual environment.

However, the difficulty remains how to experience the nature of the people, culture and locations involved in a short space of time. “Exposure to a wide scale of design issues ranges from the layout of towns and the restructuring of inner cities to the shaping of streets as settings for public life” (Master, 2008). The careful study of a variety of locations, uses and spaces can help to inform new design endeavors. Rather than waiting for the project to arise, it is important for designers to constantly study the built and designed environments in which they find themselves.

“As designers, we need to be fluent in the conceptual and formal language of the built environment, the stage where it all happens. By studying the urban environment both theoretically and practically, we develop and deepen our own critical language” (Rosenberg, 2004). Through careful study, designers can begin to develop a more intuitive grasp of the values and aesthetics of a given environment and urban culture so as to develop a more pleasing and thus successful plan. Works Cited“Chapter 1: Definition of Urban Archaeology.

” Review of Urban Archaeology Research. The Heritage Council, 2008. August 22, 2008 Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. “Chapter 11: Urban Design Guidelines.” Urban Design. Hong Kong, Planning Department, (August 2006). August 21, 2008 Lipton, Sir Stuart. The Councillor’s Guide to Urban Development. (2008). August 22, 2008 “Master of Architecture.” National University of Singapore, 2008. August 22, 2008 < http://209.85.215.104/search?q=cache:7OEyrQqX3J4J:www.arch.nus.edu.sg/programmes/master_aki_ud.

pdf+%22Exposure+to+a+wide+scale+of+design+issues+ranges+from+the+layout+of+towns%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a> Olszewski, Andrew & Zenon J. Pudlowski. “Urban Design Training Courses: Leading by Design.” Global Journal of Engineering Education. Vol. 5, N. 1, (2001). Rosenberg, Ronni. “Design Education: Why Graphic Designers Need to Study Their Urban Environments.” AIGA. (August 13, 2004). August 21, 2008 Tesdorpf, P.; Axford, S.; Olszewski, A. & Young, S. Designing Competitive Places.

Australian Local Government Association, 1997.