Strategic Planning and Urban Design Foundations

Explore the basics of urban design. Learn how to create a roadmap for growth and design healthier, more sustainable neighborhoods.

Urban designers work with a multidisciplinary team to shape how a city looks and functions, helping to make it a more livable, sustainable, and resilient place for people to live. In this course, join Marc Asnis—an urban designer for the city of Portland, Oregon—as he helps to acquaint you with the basics of urban design. Using Portland as a case study, Marc steps though how to create an urban design framework, which serves as a roadmap for growth and change in a city. Learn how to take your projected growth allocations and guiding principles and translate them into a vision of your desired urban form. This includes the creation of new neighborhoods, public infrastructure investments, green buildings, and more. Armed with these strategic planning and urban design principles, you can start making transformative changes in your own hometown.

Introduction

• Urban design and planning

1. Urban Design Concepts

• What exactly is urban design?
• What does an urban designer do?
• Why is urban design important?

2. The Urban Design Framework

• Urban design frameworks
• What is a city growth strategy?
• Urban centers and corridors
• Moving people and goods in the city
• Creating a biophilic city
• Employment and context

3. Learning Break

• How I became an urban designer

4. Designing a Healthy Neighborhood

• Planning a neighborhood site
• Street connectivity in neighborhoods
• Mixed-use building development
• Diversity of housing types
• Parks and civic spaces
• Streetscape design
• Green buildings and preservation
• Green Loop VR project collaboration

Conclusion

• Where to go next