This course introduces urban design as a core foundation for urban planning. You will explore key theories of urban design, spatial thinking, public space and urban form, and develop practical design skills that are valuable in professional planning practice. Through lectures, fieldwork and studio-style tutorials, you will learn mapping, tracing, layering, and visual presentation techniques for spatial analysis and site interpretation.

The course develops your critical and design thinking, alongside creative visual communication, as you analyse how space supports social and non-human life in public settings. You will work both independently and collaboratively on research, fieldwork, spatial analysis and design tasks, using maps to investigage urban form and to reflect critically on ways in which planning and urban design intersect.