Knowledge-Based Design: Developing Urban and Regional Design into a Science

In Knowledge-based Design it is argued that urban and regional design can and should be considered a potential practical science. 'Should be' as the built environment imposes long time conditions on societal processes, and 'can be' provided a user-oriented design approach is chosen. This conclusion is reached after exploring the position of urban design in the field of science, concentrating on practical sciences. Focusing not on the uniqueness of designs but on what they have in common by dissociating the object of design from the specific context, design becomes a research method, producing organizational principles and theoretical models.

Ina Klaasen is an Associate Professor of Spatial Planning at the Faculty of Architecture in Delft, The Netherlands, specializing on Urban and Regional Design. She has an MSc in Physical Geography (1974), holds a degree in Philosophy and received her PhD (2003) with this thesis, which is partly based on earlier publications. She is the editor of Journal of Design Research and a member of the Amsterdam Council for Urban Development.