A multidisciplinary approach to urban designing

The global population living within cities has expanded rapidly over the last 50 years. In 1960, 34% of the world’s population resided in urban areas. Now, in 28 countries, over 90% of the population lives within the urban area and this figure is expected to rise steadily over the next 50 years. Intense population growth has brought new areas of opportunity and concern in the planning and adaptation of our cities.

The fastest expansion of urban dwellers is being witnessed in emerging economies largely associated with the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries. The notion of the ‘planned’ city has existed since the earliest urban gatherings. However, the industrial revolution of the 19th century significantly accelerated the progressive shift towards urban living.

The development of our cities following this period has been as a series of successive phases rather than by way of any single event. The ‘planning’ of our cities has therefore ebbed and flowed, being influenced by politics and social needs as much as commercial and industrial drivers.

A multi-disciplined approach has to be at the centre of regeneration of our cities in order to deal with the complex issues facing the future of urban design. In order to achieve this, we must begin to break down the walls constructed around traditionally separate professional practices and celebrate the opportunity to work together. This work needs to start with the education and training of urban design professionals.

It is here that architects and landscape architects can help. They are shaping the future of our global cities and communities. Dual Architecture and Landscape Architecture courses give students the opportunity to study the integrated design of buildings and the wider landscape environment.

It takes students from small scale buildings set in an intimate landscape all the way to a complex building set within an urban master plan. The increase in scale helps the students reflect on each project and develop a strong understanding of the relationships between the two core disciplines.

Programmes that combine dual architecture and landscape encourage students to understand the communities and social structures in which they are working. By engaging with teaching from both architecture and landscape architecture, students benefit from exposure to a wide array of interests and design methods.

A multi-disciplined approach develops a keen understanding of how common ground can be shared. The understanding and shared knowledge is incredibly significant to graduates heading into practice. The ability to converse freely with all members of the design team helps achieve the best outcome for projects in both academic and practice-based environments.

Hence, it is important for students to find the common language between the two spheres of influence from an early stage in their training. It is this ability to adapt that makes them useful players in multi-disciplinary teams.

People from many different backgrounds can opt for the course, but it is essential to have skills and interests such as creativity and an openness to experiment and make mistakes.

They also need to have commitment to promote sustainable buildings and landscapes which function well socially and ecologically, have visual awareness and ambition, work to improve at sketching, modelling, photography and digital design and also have an interest in people.
Additionally, they will need to know the requirements for buildings and spaces.

Career opportunities
As the challenges faced by cities increase and diversify, the demand for graduates with multi-disciplinary skills will become more apparent. There is a keen desire to employ dual graduates because of the diversity of their skill set and their understanding of how to work with a range of practitioners. Due to the unique nature of dual courses, there are relatively few dual practitioners to meet the needs of employers. So, graduates are in high demand in the career market.

Graduates can pursue the professionally-accredited route into practice as an architect and/or landscape architect. They can pursue other careers in the built environment and be prepared for a wide range of careers such as urban designers, built environment consultants, government and local authority advisors, creative and strategic policy makers, and architectural critic and journalists.

(The author is university teacher, University of Sheffield, UK)