Company: Place Services (part of Essex County Council)
Contract: Permanent, Full-Time
Careers & Courses
A wide variety of people call themselves urban designers. In one sense anyone who is involved in making places is active in urban design. Even if you do a university course in ‘urban design’, exactly what you learn will depend on which university you choose, as on other courses. The various urban design courses have different emphases, some focus more on practical design skills, others on policy and theory.
It is important to understand that urban design is not an accredited profession. There is no professional body that decides what should be on the curriculum of an urban design course, or what expertise and knowledge you need to be able to practise as an urban designer.
An urban designer needs a broad understanding of cities, towns and villages, and ways of making them work better. This involves understanding how the planning system operates, how developers make their sums add up, how to assess what makes a particular place special, how to make places easy to move around by foot and vehicle, how to bring life to places that have become run down, how to conserve historic buildings, how to make the most of the landscape, how to think about the future of small and large development sites, how to involve local people, how to make sure that projects actually happen, how to communicate effectively, how to negotiate, and how to write design policy and guidance.
That sounds like a lot of subjects! But they are all related, and each explains a bit more about how urban places work. The urban designer is not expected to be an expert on all of them, but it is essential to be able to see the whole picture.
Urban Design Jobs (View All)
Following internal promotions, we are looking for talented and passionate urban designers to join our award winning Built and Natural Environment Team - a multi disciplinary team of technical officers comprising of Urban Designers, Heritage Specialists, Ecologists, Landscape Designers, Arboriculturist who work within the Greater Cambridge Planning Service, a shared planning service between Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council.
Thrive is looking for a dynamic urban designer to join our ever-expanding team based in London. This is an exciting opportunity for anyone who has a passion for creating amazing outdoor residential and community spaces.
The role includes:
Carrying out and overseeing the preparation of conceptual urban design and planning work, feasibility studies, masterplanning, development briefs, design strategies and other design documents. Working with a wider team, this person will manage delegated projects in respect of timescales and client liaison.
Thrive is looking for a dynamic Senior Urban Designer to join our ever-expanding team based in London, on a part time basis, preferably working Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays. This is an exciting opportunity for anyone who has a passion for creating meaningful places and communities.
The role includes: