History of the Urban Design Group

Forty Years of the Urban Design Group

On 22 November 1978 Francis Tibbalds, Keith Ingham, Percy Johnson-Marshall, Kevin Eastham and others convened a meeting at the RIBA under the title 'Architects in Planning'.

This was the inaugral meeting of what very quickly became known as the Urban Design Group, initially with the subtitle: a forum for architects, landscape architects and designers in planning.

Arnold Linden, an early member, recalls of the gathering of our earliest pioneeers:

'They did so knowing full well that the institutes of architecture and of planning no longer recognised each other's legitimate role in the creation of the urban scene. The public realm had become, by default, largely the consequences of mechanistic decisions by highways, traffic and municipal engineers.

The group held from its inception that everyone acting in the environment was an urban designer, whether they were performing positively, negatively or just passively, because the decisions they make (or disregard) affect the quality of urban spaces.'

Soon architects, planners, landscape architects, engineers, public artists and a range of other professionals were declaring their commitment to urban design. Their mission was to change how the environment was shaped.

They argued that architects should be concerned with the place, not just with designing a building to satisfy the client’s demands alone. Planners should be concerned, not just with land use, but with the physical form of development. Landscape architecture should be involved in analysing and understanding sites at the start of the planning and design process, rather than being brought in at a late stage to disguise ugly buildings with some planting. Highway engineers should use their skills to make places that are pleasant to be in and to walk through, rather than focusing narrowly on keeping the traffic moving.

Urban design is now a mainstream professional activity, which local and central government and local communities greatly value. But urban design has not turned into a new profession somewhere between architecture and planning. Urban design is more than that: it is a set of skills, a state of mind and a way of thinking.

THE NAME

Architects in Planning (November 1978)
Designers in Planning Group (January 1979)
Urban Design Group (since February 1979)

PRESIDENTS

CHAIRS

BOARD OF PATRONS

The UDG has an active board of Patrons who help to promote the Group's goals to a wide audience nationally and internationally.

KEVIN LYNCH MEMORIAL LECTURE

ANNUAL UDG LECTURE

UDG LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD