Urban Design | Planetizen Courses

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

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

41 Mins

AICP CM

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shelf with legal books

Legal Issues for Form-Based Codes

80 Mins

AICP CM
CNU-A

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black and white image aerial of suburban homes

The Story of Sprawl

163 Mins

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3-D city created in SketchUp

Virtual Reality for Planners 2: Modeling in SketchUp

72 Mins

AIA CES
AICP CM
SACPLAN CPD

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row of cars and parking meters

Donald Shoup Explains Parking Reform

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

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

77 Mins

CIP
AIA CES
AICP CM

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mountains and trees at dawn

Drawing in the Landscape: Painting Color

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

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

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

59 Mins

AIA CES
AICP CM
CNU-A
SACPLAN CPD

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City Dreamers film ad

81 Mins

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New Orleans neighborhood with city skyline in background

Methods for Neighborhood Scale Revitalization

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

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

143 Mins

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3D model in Unity software

Virtual Reality for Planners 3: Working with Unity

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...

Richard Willson

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

David Dixon

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

Eliot Allen

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

Kristin Faurest

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

Jeff Speck

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

Jason Luger

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

Daniel Parolek

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

Lennart Nout

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

Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman

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

Meredith Johnson

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

Chris Holtkamp

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

Donald Shoup

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

Chase Mullen

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

Elliot Hartley

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

Mark David Major

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

Norman Wright

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

Darryl Jones

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

Adam Fine

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

Geoffrey Ferrell

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

Mary Madden

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

Elizabeth Doerr

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

Lynn Peterson

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

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

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Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

Instructor: Jeff Speck

Jeff Speck explains his five principal reasons for building more walkable places — Economics, the Environment, Public Health, Equity, and Social Cohesiveness — arming practitioners with a full range of arguments in favor of pro-walkability planning.

4.53

79 Mins

CIP

AIA CES

AICP CM

Free

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Designing a Wayfinding System

Instructor: Adam Fine

Learn how to create a comprehensive wayfinding signage system for your municipality from start to finish.

4.54

58 Mins

CIP

AIA CES

AICP CM

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American Architectural Styles

Instructor: Meredith Johnson

This course traces the history of American architectural styles and discusses how to identify styles for historic preservation projects.

4.53

71 Mins

AIA CES

AICP CM