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 suburban homes

Form-Based Codes 101: Preparing a Form-Based Code

Lisa Wise, Daniel Parolek

61 Mins

AIA CES
AICP CM
CNU-A

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map of building types

Form-Based Codes: Using Building Types, Part 1

63 Mins

AIA CES
AICP CM
CNU-A
SACPLAN CPD

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city with connection points

Location Optimization

70 Mins

AIA CES
AICP CM
SACPLAN CPD

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aerial of denver with buildings and transit

Equitable Transit Oriented Development

57 Mins

CIP
AIA CES
AICP CM
SACPLAN CPD

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black and white image of a crosswalk light with a green walking man and a red hanging man

Walkable City 2: The Useful Walk

82 Mins

CIP
AIA CES
AICP CM

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rendering created in sketchup

Visual Simulation: Advanced Rendering in SketchUp

46 Mins

AICP CM
SACPLAN CPD

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aerial view of ancient city grid

The American City, Part 1: A Brief History of the Regular Grid

Mark David Major

47 Mins

AIA CES
AICP CM

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aerial view of cars at large intersection

Transportation Planning: Travel Behavior Principles and Modelling Approaches

Richard Willson

55 Mins

AIA CES
AICP CM
CNU-A
SACPLAN CPD

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cars parked along curb in Old Town Pasadena California

Parking Benefit Districts

56 Mins

CIP
AIA CES
AICP CM
SACPLAN CPD

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Brooklyn Bridge Park at golden hour

History of U.S. Landscape Architecture, Part 2

Kristin Faurest

61 Mins

AIA CES
AICP CM

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view of downtown minneapolis from bridge

Greening the Neighborhood: LEED-ND Metrics

65 Mins

AICP CM
SACPLAN CPD

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QGIS model of pedestrian shed for urban design course

Urban Design for Planners 3: Neighborhoods and Centers

59 Mins

AIA CES
AICP CM
CNU-A
SACPLAN CPD

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busy street with cars and pedestrians in India

The Human Scale

81 Mins

AICP CM
SACPLAN CPD

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Boston buildings and bridge

The Elements of Citymaking: Design, Policy, and Finance

57 Mins

CIP
AIA CES
AICP CM
SACPLAN CPD

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Bus departs busbay in town center

Planning Communities for Maximum Transit Access

75 Mins

CIP
AIA CES
AICP CM

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illustratin of street with buildings and trees

Design in Planning: An Overview

Jason Kambitsis

58 Mins

SACPLAN CPD

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government building with columns

Form-Based Codes 101: Legal Aspects

Daniel Parolek, Daniel K. Slone

85 Mins

AIA CES
AICP CM
CNU-A

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various maps of building types

Form-Based Codes: Using Building Types, Part 2

53 Mins

AIA CES
AICP CM
SACPLAN CPD

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map of proposed transit corridor

Suitability Analysis and Linear Optimization: Siting a New Transit Line

92 Mins

AIA CES
AICP CM

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chicago skyline and lincoln park

How Zoning Shapes Cities, Communities, and Regions

84 Mins

AIA CES
AICP CM
SACPLAN CPD

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Car crashed into interstate wall with firefighters and people pointing.

Walkable City 3: The Safe Walk (A)

77 Mins

CIP
AIA CES
AICP CM

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rendering of buildings created in sketchup

Visual Simulation: Rendering Styles and Presentation with SketchUp

29 Mins

AICP CM
SACPLAN CPD

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sign placed in grass next to street

Legal Issues in Sign Codes

James Carpentier

59 Mins

AICP CM

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A B-29 over Osaka, Japan on 1 June 1945

History of City Planning 3: Midcentury Modern (1940-1979)

64 Mins

AIA CES
AICP CM
CNU-A
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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Real Estate Debt for Planners

Instructor: Menka Sethi

This course introduces planners to basic concepts of real estate debt, including metrics used in obtaining a mortgage and other concepts like borrowing capacity, and amortization analysis.

4.27

73 Mins

AICP CM

CNU-A

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Property Valuation for Planners

Instructor: Menka Sethi

This course builds on topics covered in the previous two courses from this series, time value of money and property cash flow, to undertake a discounted cash flow analysis of property value.

4.20

54 Mins

AICP CM

CNU-A

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Property Cash Flow Analysis for Planners

Instructor: Menka Sethi

This course will introduce planners to property cash flow analysis, which provides the foundation for real estate pro forma analysis.

4.12

72 Mins

AICP CM

CNU-A

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Time Value of Money for Planners

Instructor: Menka Sethi

This course will introduce planners to the concept of time value of money that will provide the foundation for real estate pro forma analysis.

4.19

80 Mins

AICP CM

CNU-A