Essentials of Urban Design

Essentials of Urban Design explains the fundamental concepts of urban design, providing the understanding and tools needed to achieve better design outcomes. It is equally useful for designing places and evaluating designs.

Each chapter outlines the key steps in designing or assessing a different type of development. All common types of urban development are addressed, from infill buildings to whole urban growth areas, residential to employment uses, and centers to public transport interchanges. For each development type, widely accepted urban design principles are explained, and rules of thumb provided.

This practical handbook is liberally illustrated with diagrams, photos of "good" and "bad" examples of urban design and handy checklists for common urban design tasks. It will be a valuable reference tool for architects, developers, urban planners, traffic engineers, landscape architects, councilors, planning lawyers, planning tribunal members and residents concerned about development.

* Plain English explanation of common urban design terms and ideas
* Design solutions to common urban design challenges
* Handy checklists for common urban design tasks
* Examples of good and bad projects from an urban design perspective

Mark Sheppard is a practicing urban designer. He has worked in the field since 1993, first in England and then in Australia, where he is Principal of David Lock Associates. Prior to that, Mark completed a Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Auckland, and a Diploma and MA in Urban Design at Oxford Brookes University. His favorite pastime is exploring new cities.