Urban Design takes a completely different attitude to buildings than architecture. It is about fluid social spaces rather than space planning, about guiding movement and 'scene-setting' rather than enclosure and dwelling.It is not 'big architecture.'
Designing public spaces starts with the outside of buildings and only then their edges at ground level. It is inevitably a negotiated, compromised, partial result that is immediately subject to change, growth and re-evaluation. Urban Design is a very inexact science that can only offer frameworks and pathways but it is absolutely critical to the success of architecture.
Urban thinking makes sense of the spaces left over between buildings, the places you wait outside, meet your friends, park your car, get lost and scared if they fail.
