Role of a Urban Designer

RUrban Design defines the physical elements that define the characteristics of a street, neighborhood, community and a city. Urban design helps create a visual and sensory relationship between the people and the natural built environment. The built environment reflects the buildings and streets while the natural environment includes features such as mountains, shorelines, and parks. These elements are incorporated into the urban framework. Throughout the world, major cities rely on urban design suggestions to ensure that the built and natural environment continues to contribute to the qualities that make the place unique. City building has been a long and complex process throughout history. Looking at the history of cities shows indications of multiple degrees of planning and conscious design in the layout and function for the city. Today urban design continues to play off of the pre-existing built and natural environment by improving the elements as today’s societies continue to change and grow.

In the 21st century urban designers have held various roles and views on the built and natural environment. There have been many theories on urban design, negative and positive. The most recent topic of urban design is Jon Lang’s “Urban Design as a Discipline and as a Profession.” This article talks about the “evolution of the field, its knowledge, and the practical roles played by urban designers in public and private sectors.” As the role of urban design changes, so do the standards. Urban design is a complicated field because it deals with factors such as; recent demographic shifts, renewed interest in placemaking, and solving urban growth problems. Other design professions are governed by rules while urban design takes bits and pieces from them. It’s a profession that is supposed to be based off of moral ethics but can sometimes be conflicted when multiple parties come into play. This creates a difficult design challenge and sometimes, urban designers find