Published by Georgina Walker on 28 March 2024   Getting Started Throughout the semester the module has focussed on self-directed meetings, peer-reviewing blogs, academic insights and gaining experience with the use of a short form content method of academic expression. As a MArch student, I have thoroughly enjoyed gaining knowledge and experience in urban design at Newcastle University. Understanding the urban environment is critical in creating successful architectural proposals, therefore, incorporating this module into my architectural career was essential in my development.   Stu ..read more

The merits of creating mixed-use community Mixed-use communities and mixed land-use combinations have emerged as an effective means of reducing urban sprawl due to the rise in migrant populations and urban sprawl. This variety of sustainable development offers neighbours convenience and safety and abundant community vibrancy for the neighbourhood’s residents.   Metropolitan expansion is severely strained by urban sprawl; mixed-housing development not only reduces this strain on transportation but also adds diversity. It has been successful in drawing a larger range of socioeconomic g ..read more

Introduction With the global energy crisis, the reduction of energy consumption has become an important issue around the world, and passive house design plays an important role in reducing energy consumption. In fact, passive house design has been widely used to a large extent, and this approach applies to all building types, including very low-cost buildings, whether new or renovated, large or small (Bere, 2019). As emphasised by Wolfgang Feist, one of the founders of the Passivhaus concept, Passivhaus is a building concept that could be applied by anyone, anywhere, which includes “excellent ..read more

Image 1: Urban green spaces provide a way for people to connect to nature within a developed city Photo taken by Jean-Christophe BENOIST [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)] In the context of modern cities, humans are facing many challenges, including air pollution, heat island effect, and decline in residents’ quality of life. Therefore, the planning and design of urban green spaces is particularly important. green spaces not only purify urban air, but also provide urban residents with necessary leisure and recovery environments. Evolution of Urban Green Spaces ..read more

What is gender mainstreaming? Image1: Women and man in the station( Svyatoslav Lypynskyy, Dorina Pojani) Picture two scenarios: In one, you’re a dad commuting to work. You drive or take the train, go to work, and then, head home. In the other, Imagine you’re a mother with a small child, navigating a metro station with a stroller. You carefully steer clear of dimly lit areas while entertaining your child. After dropping off your child at daycare, you catch another train to work. Later, you take a tram to accompany your father to a doctor’s appointment, then return to his home and take a bu ..read more

Figure 1: Newham’s New Residential Plan Source: Newham City Council (2024) In the urban design world, residential area plays an important role. It is not simply described as clusters of houses anymore, not if we want to make them more resilient for the future use. It needs to be able to shape the environment’s functionality of spaces and the residents’ well-being. If the thought of housings being monotonous as a place to rest, it is outdated, and we need to rethink about it. One of the important keys of designing a residential area is the concept of diversity with mixed-use development, accor ..read more

Shared Streets / Exploring the Integration of Urban Design and Transportation Design What is Shared Streets? The concept of shared streets is not yet clear at the theoretical and practical levels, but it can at least be intuitively understood as the shared use of the same public street (road) space by different street (road) users. This intuitive understanding mainly exposes the ambiguity of the three dimensions of Context, Function and Consensus (Karndacharuk et al. 2014). Ambiguity of the Contextual Dimension This is manifested in the lack of a clearly established relationship with urban pl ..read more

Creating a safe city for women Figure 01: Empress Place in Singapore (the cover of Arup’s new report) Women experience cities differently from men. Despite the fact that women make up half of the population. Urban design often ignores women’s perspectives, which makes women face many issues in urban life, such as safety. How to design cities that work for women is an issue we need to consider urgently. Challenges facing women in cities Figure 02: Woman alone on the street at night Some 4.5 billion people, or 55 per cent of the world’s population, live in urban areas, and 50 per cent of the w ..read more

Co-Housing is the method of forming a community. It is mostly referred to as a deliberate community, where people live together and contribute to its various aspects. This helps to build a neighborhood, which inculcates certain values in the people who come together. This may be a shared vision to live in a certain way, or increasing a connective spirit. [1] Fig 1: Community Led Homes. (n.d.). [1] Most common Co-Housing characteristics: It is a sense of balance among Community and privacy. The developments are generally between 10-40 dwellings, to make conversations as convenient as possi ..read more

INTRODUCTION Population expansion and urbanization continue to deplete the world’s scarce resources (Mostafavi, 2010). According to the United Nations, cities house more than half of the world’s population, and by 2050, 6.5 billion people are predicted to reside in them. As more people move to cities and environmental concerns develop, cities will be pushed to reevaluate their systems and environmental impact. Also many cities throughout the world have already begun to enact more ecologically friendly legislation, and trends are forming. The sustainable cities of the future will go beyond toda ..read more