At its core, urban design is the process of deciding how a city will be organized. More than just the physical layout of roads, buildings, open space, and transportation networks, urban design includes decisions about land use, urban form, and neighborhood scale that affect citizens’ access to urban amenities and healthy living environments near amenities and transportation.

Urban Design Courses

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aerial view of large outdoor parking lot
Parking Reform Made Easy
Richard Willson
72 Mins
  • AICP CM

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sketchup model of cityblocks for urban planning course
Urban Design for Planners 5: Density
Emily Talen
64 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
  • SACPLAN CPD

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portrait of Daniel Burnham
Make No Little Plans: Daniel Burnham and the American City
58 Mins
  • AICP CM

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pedestrians and bicyclist in helsinki
Women and Cities 5: The Feminist Future City
Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman
59 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • SACPLAN CPD

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car-free modern condominiums
Walking Towards Inclusion
David Dixon
41 Mins
  • AICP CM

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shelf with legal books
Legal Issues for Form-Based Codes
Mark White
80 Mins
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A

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black and white image aerial of suburban homes
The Story of Sprawl
Tim Halbur
163 Mins

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3-D city created in SketchUp
Virtual Reality for Planners 2: Modeling in SketchUp
Chase Mullen
72 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • SACPLAN CPD

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row of cars and parking meters
Donald Shoup Explains Parking Reform
Donald Shoup
48 Mins
  • AICP CM
  • SACPLAN CPD

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Rendering of a mixed use development with a theatre, restaurant, and residential units above
Suburban Remix: Creating the Next Generation of Urban Places
David Dixon
63 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • SACPLAN CPD

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Park on the historic walkable city wall of the Italian city of Lucca in the Pisa region
Walkable City 6: The Interesting Walk
Jeff Speck
77 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM

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mountains and trees at dawn
Drawing in the Landscape: Painting Color
Darryl Jones
68 Mins
  • AICP CM

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aerial image of portland oregon
The American City, Part 3: Learning from the Grid
Mark David Major
53 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM

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aerial view of houston freeways
Transportation Planning: Making Transportation Plans—Rationality and Politics
Richard Willson
60 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
  • SACPLAN CPD

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wildfire on a hill behind a row of suburban homes
Resilience Planning for Wildfires
Chris Holtkamp
58 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM

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A busy street in Vienna, Austria.
Landscape Design for Social Sustainability, Part 2
Kristin Faurest
53 Mins
  • CIP
  • AICP CM

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3-d street created with planning software
Urban Design for Planners 8: Parking and Traffic
Emily Talen
90 Mins
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
  • LA CES

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streetscape design created in sketchup for urban planning course
Urban Design for Planners 6: Streetscape Design
Emily Talen
59 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • CNU-A
  • SACPLAN CPD

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City Dreamers film ad
City Dreamers
81 Mins

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New Orleans neighborhood with city skyline in background
Methods for Neighborhood Scale Revitalization
Jason Neville
68 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • SACPLAN CPD

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Dutch auto-te-gast street with windmill in background
Good Speed by Design: A Network Approach to Traffic Calming
Lennart Nout
58 Mins
  • CIP
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM

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map showing land use
Regional Scenario Planning: An Overview
Garlynn Woodsong
47 Mins
  • SACPLAN CPD

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aerial view of suburban homes
The Story of Sprawl - With Commentary Tracks
Tim Halbur
143 Mins

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3D model in Unity software
Virtual Reality for Planners 3: Working with Unity
Chase Mullen
64 Mins
  • AIA CES
  • AICP CM
  • SACPLAN CPD

Top Urban Design Instructors

Emily Talen

Emily Talen is Professor of Urbanism at the University of Chicago. Her research is devoted to...

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Richard Willson

Richard Willson is a professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at California State...

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David Dixon

David is well known for helping create new, mixed-use urban districts (in both cities and suburbs)...

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Eliot Allen

Eliot Allen, certified, LEED AP-ND, is an urban planner and Principal with Criterion Planners of Portland...

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Kristin Faurest

Kristin Faurest is a public garden education and outreach professional, author, and landscape architecture educator, committed...

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Jeff Speck

Jeff Speck is a city planner who advocates internationally for more walkable cities.

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Jason Luger

Jason Luger is a lecturer in City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley, College of Environmental...

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Daniel Parolek

Daniel Parolek is a nationally recognized thought leader in architecture, design, and urban planning, specifically in...

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Lennart Nout

Lennart is an urban mobility design consultant, specializing in design and planning of bicycle networks and...

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Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman

Katrina is a lecturer, researcher, and advocate for heart-centered cities. Her work focuses on human behavior...

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Meredith Johnson

Meredith is the owner of Johnson Planning and Preservation LLC, a boutique firm that works to...

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Chris Holtkamp

Chris Holtkamp is a certified planner and is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Planning at the...

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Donald Shoup

Donald Shoup is Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Urban Planning at UCLA. His research...

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Chase Mullen

Chase is the Director of Design Visualization at MIG. With an acute eye for graphics and...

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Elliot Hartley

Elliot Hartley is an internationally recognised geodesign and Esri CityEngine expert.

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Mark David Major

Dr. Mark David Major, AICP, CNU-A is a Professor of Urban Design at the Savannah College...

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Norman Wright

Norman Wright is the Director of Neighborhood Services for Adams County, Colorado. In his career as...

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Darryl Jones

Darryl Jones is an artist and filmmaker based in Oakland, CA.

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Adam Fine

Adam is the Director of experiential graphic design at Nova Scotia-based Fathom Studio and has worked...

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Geoffrey Ferrell

Geoffrey is one of the originators of the modern practice of Form-Based Codes. His work ranges...

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Mary Madden

Mary Madden has nearly 20 years of experience in the fields of urban planning and design...

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Elizabeth Doerr

Elizabeth Doerr is a writer with expertise and awareness around social and racial justice issues and...

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Lynn Peterson

Lynn Peterson is a nationally recognized transportation and land use integration expert.

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David Rouse

David is a consultant, educator, and author with over 40 years of experience in urban and...

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All Urban Design Courses

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools Sign Up

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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

Instructor: Emily Talen

Urban planners and urban designers are interested in building places that embody beauty and hope. In this course, Emily Talen, PhD, FAICP, presents free urban design software tools that can help urban planners and urban designers visualize changes in the built environment to support the overarching goal of creating better places.

4.28
59 Mins
AIA CES
AICP CM
CNU-A
SACPLAN CPD
Conceptual Drawing for Planners Sign Up

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Conceptual Drawing for Planners

Instructor: JJ Zanetta

In this course, we will learn effective ways of drawing as a means to communicate design ideas and explore digital tools that support traditional drawing.

4.34
73 Mins
AICP CM
SACPLAN CPD

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Software

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