1st Edition
The Routledge Handbook of Urban Design Practice
Foreword: Larry Beasley
Introduction: Importance of Urban Design in Addressing Our Common Challenges
PART ONE: URBAN DESIGN TODAY
Section 1: Foundations of Practice: Introduction
1.1 Urban Design Education & Training
Danilo Palazzo
1.2 Organizational Contexts for Urban Designers: Current Roles and Future Trajectories
Orly Linovski
1.3 The Many Modes of Collaboration: Collaboration Throughout the Urban Design Process
Kevin King
1.4 What Urban Designers Can Learn from Advocacy
Anita Cozart
1.5 Engagement & Inclusion in Urban Design
Daniella Fergusson
1.6 Urban Design Products & Programming
Jon Lang
1.7 Site Planning
Gary Hack
1.8 Schematic Design and Design Process
Richard Roark
Section 2: Urban Design Planning & Process: Introduction
2.1 In Defense of Design Policy: Strategies for Practice
Molly O'Neill Robinson
2.2 Towards a More Inclusive and Reflective Urban Design Practice: Five Principles for Beginning a Project
Jill Allen Dixon and Mary Anne Ocampo
2.3 Neighborhood Planning and Urban Design
John Rahaim
2.4 Form-based Codes
Tony Perez
2.5 Design Charrettes
Danna Gutierrez Lanza and Holly Madill
2.6 Design Review & Design Guidelines
Michael Jenkins
2.7 Designing with Dignity: Piloting Bold Ideas to Advance the Human Experience
Ben Bryant and Mitchell J. Silver
Section 3: Global Cities and Urban Design: Introduction
3.1 Informal and Formal Urbanism in Urban Design
Vinit Mukhija
3.2 Cheaper and Safer to Build a Community than a House: how urban design can address unsettledness
Rachel Berney
3.3 The Dream of the Brazilian Urban Reform
Cid Blanco Jr
3.4 Snapshot of Urban Design Practice: Chile
Victoria Mohr Ferron
3.5 Snapshot of Urban Design Practice: Colombia
Juan Esteban Correa Elejalde
3.6 Snapshot of Urban Design Practice: Ghana
Florence Buaku
3.7 Snapshot of Urban Design Practice: The Netherlands
Bertus Cornelissen
3.8 Snapshot of Urban Design Practice: Spain
Carmen Mendoza Arroyo
3.9 Snapshot of Urban Design Practice: Iraq
Madlen Simon, Shaimaa Hameed Hussein, Mohammed Qasim Abdul Ghafoor Al-Ani, Dheah Hameed Basee and Zina Riadh
3.10 Snapshot of Urban Design Practice: India
Srusti Shah and Yash Gogri
3.11 Snapshot of Urban Design Practice: China
Tao Zhang
3.12 Snapshot of Urban Design Practice: South Korea
Idil Ayral
Section 4: Shaping the City: Introduction
4.1 Structuring the City
Larry Beasley
4.2 Development Types & Practices (Uses, Program, Components)
Daniel O’Shaughnessy
4.3 Rationales for Dominant Building Types and Practices
Tim Love
4.4 Vertical Urbanization, Placemaking and High-Rise Buildings
James T. White
4.4 Human Scale High-Density Urban Design
Tara Singh
4.6 Transit Types & Practices
Kristin Michael
4.7 Beyond Bump-Outs – a brief overview of contemporary pedestrian and public-space oriented street design
Kelly Gregg and Paul Hess
4.8 Calming Traffic and Sharing Streets
Bruce Appleyard
4.9 Micromobility Types & Practices
Ariel Ben-Amos
4.10 Walkable Urbanism
Adrianne Steichen
4.11 Strategizing Streets and Streetscapes
Molly O’Neill Robinson, Michael Larice, Tom Klein and Shuying Wu
4.12 Landscape Types & Practices
Meghen Quinn
4.13 Design Details with Purpose
Molly O’Neill Robinson
Section 5: Technology and Urban Design Practice: Introduction
5.1 The Uses of Digital Knowledge in Urban Design
Ed Parham and Eleri Jones
5.2 Social Life and Social Space in the City
Ali Madanipour
5.3 Digital Civics & Citizenship in Urban Design
Lou Huang
5.4 Urban Data Visualization
Brent Chamberlain and Phillip Fernberg
5.5 Airspace and Urban Design, but don’t call them “flying cars”
Clint Harper
PART TWO: URBAN DESIGN CHALLENGED
Section 6: Climate Change and Urban Design: Introduction
6.1 Net Zero Cities & Urban Design
Peter Newman
6.2 Sea Level Rise & Urban Design
Kristina Hill
6.3 Remaking Urban Design for Climate Resilience
Zachary Lamb
6.4 Strategies for Urban Adaptation
Rami el Samahy
6.5 Biophilic Cities: A New Framework for Urban Design and Planning
Tim Beatley
6.6 Planning for Successful Green Infrastructure
Michele Adams
6.7 Urban Forest Strategies for a Changing Climate
Molly O’Neill Robinson, Sharen Hauri and Nancy Monteith
6.8 Environmental Sustainability in Urban Design
Daniella Hirschfield and Brent Chamberlain
Section 7: Public Health and Urban Design: Introduction
7.1 Wellness, Identity, and Urban Design
David Rubin
7.2 Spatial Cognition, Mental Health, and Wellbeing
Andrew Mondschein
7.3 Pandemic Response & Urban Design
Lian Farhi and Kelly McGuinness
7.4 Urban Design and Healthy Suburbs
Ann Forsyth
7.5 Urban Design and Safety
Larissa Begault
7.6 Urban Design: Making Space for Play
Meghan Talarowski
7.7 Food Systems and Access in Urban Design
Laura Lawson
7.8 Trauma-informed Design
Brice Maryman
Section 8: Community Flux and Urban Design: Introduction
8.1 Urban Design for Complete Communities
Emily Talen
8.2 Urban Design for Multiple Public Interests
Jess Zimbabwe
8.3 Displacement Resilience Through Equitable Development
Allen Penniman
8.4 Gentrification & Urban Design
Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris
8.5 Urban Planning for Reparations: Transforming Spaces, Restoring Equity
Wyking Garrett
8.6 Zoning Reform
Seth Zeren
8.7 Urban Design as if Black Lives Matter
Anna Livia Brand
8.8 LGBTQ Inclusive Urban Design
Michael Frisch
8.9 Social Sustainability and Urban Design
Michael Larice and Dana Morgan
Section 9: Justice and Urban Design: Introduction
9.1 Redressing Past Urban Design Injustices
Zena Howard And David Green
9.2 Radical Transformation: The Right To The City In Urban Design
Morgan Fett
9.3 Ensuring Voice & Belonging In Urban Design
Ivis Garcia
9.4 Cross-Cultural Skills & Cultural Competency In Urban Design
Rachel Stark
9.5 Toward Interactive Justice In Urban Design: The Role Of Intercultural Communication
Michael Rios
9.6 A Practitioner’s Guide To Catalyzing Commercial Corridor Investment
Maurice D. Cox
9.7 Environmental Justice In Urban Design
Leah Bamberger
Section 10: Economic Resilience and Urban Design: Introduction
10.1 Urban Design in Times of Boom & Decline
Alexa Bush
10.2 Design for Economic Diversification
Lynn Hoffman Carlton
10.3 Urban Design for Economic Vitality
Emma Hall and Gilbert Rochcouste
10.4 Urban Design & Equitable Economic Development
Marc Norman
10.5 Urban Design, Social Equity, and Urban Land Value
Patrick Condon
10.6 Affordable Housing Design: Typologies and Considerations
Kim Suczynski-Smith
10.7 Adaptive Reuse as Urban Design: Finding Economic Resilience in Old Buildings
Lindsey Scannapieco
10.8 Urban Design and the Creative City
David Vega-Barachowitz
10.9 A Culturally Oriented Approach: Affirming Community Roles in the Urban Redesign Process
Christine Richman, Reid Cleeter and Jesse Allen
10.10 The Informal Economy and Urban Design
Irene Farah
10.11 Economic Sustainability in Urban Design
Stephen Wheeler
Section 11: Placemaking and Place Quality: Introduction
11.1 Livability and Urban Design
Michael Larice, Deborah Shin and Amanda Haycox
11.2 Placemaking, Caring and Keeping
Gina Ford, Brie Hensold and Kari Roynesdal
11.3 Cultivating a Sense of Belonging through Place Stewardship
Tiffany J. Beamer
11.4 Narrative Landscapes and Urban Design
Mark C. Childs
11.5 Putting the Public and the Art Into Public Art
Amanda Golden
11.6 Catalytic Public Realm Investment
Azzurra Cox
11.7 Materiality in Placemaking: The role of paving in the image of the city
Danae Esparza Lozano
11.8 Ecological Placemaking
Jonathan Kol Fogelson
11.9 Landing in a Region: A Geographic Approach to Urban Design
Andrew Dawson
11.10 Urban Design & Global Tourism
Kathryn Mathers
PART THREE: URBAN DESIGN TOMORROW
Section 12: Urban Design Practice into the Future: Introduction
12.1 Projecting the Future City
Malcoln Moor and Jon Rowland
12.2 Toward an Ethical Future
Ujijji Davis Williams and Matt Williams
12.3 Designing the Regenerative City of the Future
Peter J. Kindel
12.4 The Future of Public Space
Ken Greenberg
12.5 Exigency of Urban Design in Our Collective Future
Tridib Banerjee
Afterward: A Way Forward
Editorial Credits
Glossary
Biography
Molly O’Neill Robinson, AICP is an urban designer and planner, a career-line instructor at the University of Utah's College of Architecture and Planning, and founder of MOR Design & Planning. With nine years leading Salt Lake City's urban design efforts, she spearheaded the Downtown Plan, reframing public engagement to include previously marginalized communities and establishing urban policy that supports downtown as a vibrant, livable neighborhood. Previously, she worked with award-winning teams at OLIN and Sasaki.
Michael Angelo Larice, PhD is an urban designer and educator. For more than two decades, he has taught urban design, urban studies, and pedagogy at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of British Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Utah, developing urban design curricula at each school. His design studios partnered with municipal governments, public agencies, and community organizations, often involving funded international travel. His academic work focuses on the public realm, streetscapes, livability, social sustainability, and slum upgrading. His professional work includes projects in Aruba, southern Africa, and California. With UC Berkeley Professor Elizabeth Macdonald, he co-edited two editions of Routledge’s Urban Design Reader. Dr. Larice holds a BA in Design and a Master of Architecture from UCLA, and a PhD in Planning and Urban Design from UC Berkeley.
Allen Penniman weaves urban planning, design, and real estate development into the equitable revitalization of distressed urban communities. He practices as a senior urban planner at Agency Landscape + Planning and teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. Allen’s work has involved reactivating commercial corridors, realizing housing development, sustaining postindustrial creative districts, and reinventing streets to support joyful public life.
Amanda Haycox has worked as both a statutory and strategic planner for state and local government as well as a planning consultant in the private sector. She began her career planning for public housing in the state government and later as a planner in the (then) state Department of Infrastructure. She worked as a planner in Eswatini, Southern Africa, and as a planner in the Birmingham City Council in England. Amanda is currently the Coordinator of City Strategy and Place Planning Glen Eira City Council in Melbourne, Australia.
"This valuable collection of essays brings together multiple perspectives on urban design that serve to remind us of the complexity, significance, and ever expanding scope of the subject. It underscores the critical role of urban designers whose work will be greatly enriched by this deep and fundamental body of knowledge."
Professor Matthew Carmona, The Bartlett, UCL
"From bold provocations like “there is no such thing as an urban designer,” to calls for the embrace of narrative approaches, this book brings together urgent insights. Succinct chapters rich with technical and theoretical knowledge, rooted in the real-world, span multiple disciplines and geographical contexts. This powerful compilation promises to enhance both practice and places."
Jay Pitter, Placemaker, Author, and Adjunct Professor
"The Routledge Handbook of Urban Design Practice is an essential read for practitioners, city builders, urbanists, and anyone invested in shaping the future of livable, sustainable cities that foster human flourishing in the 21st century. Spanning everything from the technical intricacies of Form-Based Codes to visionary reflections on the future of public space, this handbook stands as the most comprehensive guide to urban design in a generation. There is truly nothing else like it—and with any luck, it will serve as a guiding force in city-building for years to come."
Jennifer Keesmaat, Founder, President and CEO, Collecdev Markee; Former Chief City Planner, City of Toronto






