Foundation Certificate in Urban Design – A review

In June this year, Newcastle Upon Tyne held the First edition of the Foundation Certificate in Urban Design course, organized by Urban Design Works, led by Rob Beardsworth. 

Over three days, all participants from a variety of countries, disciplines and backgrounds had the opportunity to attend a series of lectures hosted in the beautiful Newcastle University. Delegates also engaged in site visits including the Mailings Development in the Ouseburn Valley and performed design exercises to further develop their understanding of urban design and the urban planning system. 

Day one – 20th June 2022

The day started at Newcastle University. It was such a lovely, sunny day that welcomed delegates to the course. The cohort included 20 professionals from architecture, landscape architecture, town planning, community building, housing development, transportation engineering, and academia. For me, the real value of the course related to the experience of enjoying 3 days surrounded by professionals from different backgrounds, engaging in interesting conversations, learning from different perspectives and approaches to urban design and city planning, and from carefully selected literature; all of that, in a lovely and vibrant city. 

The aim of the course was to understand that urban design is not only about morphology (known as the study of form or hardware of a place) but also, and perhaps primarily, to understand human environments (known as the habitats or the software of place). The learning journey started with a lecture about the origins, legacies and hang ups of development history. It was in this brief but intense lecture that the first references came up. Rob Beardsworth, a recognized practitioner in Urban design with experience in both local and national design roles, introduced us to Ebenezer Howard and the Garden City; the controversy around Robert Moses’s urbanism and Jane Jacobs, with her masterpiece “Death and life of the Great American Cities”; Jan Gehl and “Life Between Buildings” and many more. We followed the debate by exploring life examples of societal hang-ups in the psychology of today’s development and how we could better respond to those, applying principles from design codes, guides, and policies to promote successful design and memorable places.

As everyone knows, design quality is back at the top of the agenda, and that is what we discussed during the following lecture, given by Dr Laura B Álvarez, who currently leads Urban Design and Heritage in Nottingham City Council and who is also a recognized practitioner in Urban Design and a member of the East Midlands Design Review Panel. With over 20 years’ experience in Urban Design, she walked us through her recent work developing the Nottingham’s Design Quality Framework (DQF). She explained that, what makes the DQF different to other City Council policies is the fact that it is the result of a collaboration between local community, local businesses, local designers, local universities, and the local authority. In a brilliant lecture, Laura shared her vision of urban design as a process, a key determinant of place quality and longevity. In my view, her work will, surely set a guide for guaranteed quality design for new developments, not only in the city of Nottingham, but in the rest of the UK and abroad, focusing on sustainability and the human scale. Hopefully it will, as well, set precedents for further research.

After catching up with the attendees over a pleasant lunch in the sunny courtyard, the sessions continued with a presentation by Ian Morton, a lecturer in planning and development at The University of Sunderland. His focus was the role of public spaces in the life and identity of the city. In his talk, he explored the strong relationship between tourism and urban development, a critical connection which is often disregarded and much needed as the vast impact that tourism has in cities all over the world.  His broad knowledge of the city of Newcastle led him to organize an interesting city tour from a sociological perspective, an approach often missing in the tourism industry. We had the opportunity to enjoy Victorian design, Haussmann’s Paris, and discussed about the medieval city and how to learn from design mistakes in our cities. 

The first day ended in Tyneside Cinema, in Pilgrim Street, with a screening of “The Human Scale” by Jan Gehl Architects, which was a great example on how architects and urban planners/designers should focus on urban development at a human scale, instead of from a top-down perspective as it happens too often in cities around the world. In an hour and 20 minutes, we traveled to Hong Kong, Denmark, New York, Christchurch, Dhaka, and many other cities to reflect upon the following questions: what is a good urban habitat? Do our cities invite for human interaction, inclusion, and intimacy? How can me measure happiness in a city?

Day two – 21st June 2022

Our second day, we started with a pleasant walk to the Ouseburn Valley. Just half an hour walk away from Newcastle´s City Centre, the Ourseburn Valley has become one of the most vibrant creative communities in the North East. The main purpose for the visit was to undertake a site appraisal for the afternoon design exercise.

In the morning session, we learned about the importance of considering urban design at different spatial scales: exploring the strategic scale (movement, landscape, topography); dropping down to the massing scale, understanding the impact of urban form, the relation between buildings, streets, urban spaces and landscape and their importance of creating places of unique experience; and lastly, the detail scale (human), with architectural and engineering understanding of context, and place function. Divided into groups, we explored the area focusing on items such as form and context but also community and individual needs, place perception and services.

Along with the appraisal work, we had the opportunity to study the exemplary housing development of “The Malings” by Ash Sakula. It was great to see how higher/mid-density neighborhoods can be just as aesthetic and landscape led as lower densities, partially achieved by replacing excess parking with green wildlife corridors, but also through exploring more contemporary architectural design. Projecting and receding building façades added interest and depth, and features based on the preferences and needs of future neighbors, such as and pedestrian-prioritized design, the use of good quality materials, appropriate vegetation, and a sense of beauty.  

It was an exceptional example of architecture focused on place and design within the context of the site. Creating people-centered places was at the heart of this Foundation Course and this was demonstrated by every lecturer. In the afternoon we welcomed Cany Ash, one of the founder partners of multi-award-winning architects, Ash Sakula. She is an experienced co-designer, as well as a member of the Southeast Design Review Panel, who apart from giving her insights into the creation of “The Malings”, also talked about how creating well-designed places should be vital for sustainable development. Her utterly inspiring approach sets a precedent on how good design can contribute to the creation of places.  

After that, we welcomed back Ian Morton, who stressed the need for all professionals involved in development at any scale on the social meaning of places and how assigning symbolism to a space is linked to the development of a sense of belonging. We revised the principles of public space design: scale, dimensions, enclosure, microclimate, distinction between public and private, edges and frontages, places to sit, traffic and servicing, secure and safe, provide local amenities that reflect local needs, gender perspective, planting, playfulness, and spontaneity. The lecture provoked a heated discussion, with participants sharing their own perspective on examples of good and bad public spaces in their own cities.

Ian´s talk was followed by a practical design task, where we had to put together all the knowledge acquired in a master planning exercise. The main purpose was to reimagine and repurpose an existing site located within the Valley, which turned out as an interesting and fun experiment where everyone presented their own ideas and approaches to the site. 

Day three – 22nd June 2022

The third and last day started with a lecture about the importance of safeguarding quality design. Rob showed the group different ways to accomplish an appropriate level of design through detailed drawings. Submitting detailed sections paired with elevational drawings is an opportunity to capture key design ideas such as boundary wall treatments, balustrades, window, head, reveals and others. Horizontal and vertical sections to show the depth of reveals, as well as detailed street design.  He also stressed on the importance of introducing “Building for a Healthy Life” not as a post-submission assessment tool but as design dialogue tool before the design process is concluded and budget used.

The compelling lecture was followed by a model-making workshop conducted by James Perry, architect and planner, founder partner at Harper Perry and designer of the Hull Residential Design Guide. The aim of the workshop was to translate ideas from Day 1 and 2, moving from two-dimension to three-dimension representation, and to test the group ideas. Model-making is a useful tool that helps designers think carefully about context, buildings, distance between buildings, key site views, circulation, scale of streets and access. It is also a helpful tool that can be used to engage residents and landowners at consultation and workshops, as it is more accessible than technical drawings. Visual representation, and design peer review, with feedback from all the participants, was a captivating end of the Foundational Urban Design Course.  

Who is it for?

This course was designed for people working in any built environment profession, as well as anyone aspiring to develop their understanding, knowledge, and skills in urban design. It is ideal for both public and private practitioners, but also for politicians, community leaders and people taking part in neighborhood planning and conservation, as well as students interested in gaining a practical experience from professional practitioners.   

Among the skills any urban designer should have – as Laura says – should be the ability to relate and empathize with different people and social groups, and to identify their needs and address them in the best possible way. One of the valuable learnings gained during the course was to get out of our comfort zone and further develop an analytical approach to problem solving by sharing our ideas with others.

Why does people-centered design matter for sustainable cities? 

It is vital for architects, urban planners and anyone involved in planning, community building, to learn and understand the social aspects of any city, particularly focusing on housing development and public spaces. By fostering quality and efficient public space management, cities can create open spaces that support higher density, stimulate innovation, attract talent, and enhance safety and social capital.

Whilst each city has its own context and challenges, successful projects have been able to unlock the multidimensional value that public space revitalization can bring to cities and their residents. The value created covers numerous integrated economic, social, environmental, spatial, cultural, and psychological aspects. Yet, the access to high quality public spaces and quality housing developments is often undermined by poor financing mechanisms, gaps in regulatory and institutional frameworks, and a lack of adequate participatory and consultative approach to truly transform urban spaces.

Our responsibility is to move forward designing for the future. Getting involved, participating in activities, sharing knowledge. For that, the Foundation Certificate in Urban Design Course is a great opportunity for both experienced and inexperienced individuals who are interested in creating better places for people.

You will find more information on future editions and resources on the Urban Design Works website at the following link:  https://urbandesignworks.co.uk/foundation-certificate-in-urban-design/

Marta Ocampo Astudillo – September 2022