Recognised Practitioner in Urban Design

Professionals with a suitable balance of education and experience can apply to become a Recognised Practitioner in Urban Design. The distinction provides a wide range of professionals with a valued affiliation (in many cases an additional one), proclaiming their commitment to and experience of urban design.

Being a Recognised Practitioner can give those working in urban design a sense of identity, greater influence on professional practice and public policy, and a stronger sense of common purpose. Recognised Practitioners are professionals with a wide range of skills and experience of designing in an urban context. Many of the new generation of professionals have more than one professional affiliation and they expect - indeed they are often required to - develop new skills and areas of expertise throughout their career.

Recognised Practitioners come from a diverse range of professional backgrounds including:

• Urban Design
• Highway and Civil EngineeringBuilding Conservation
• Development Control
• Landscape Architecture
• Lighting
• Architecture
• Regeneration and Development
• Transport Planning
• and other professions

The core of the Recognised Practitioner assessment is the Capacitycheck system, which enables people from a wide range of different backgrounds and roles to be considered, including practitioners involved in policy formulation, research or academia.

Recognised Practitioners can use the RP logo on their business cards, stationery and email signature and are also listed in the UDG Directory.

How to Apply 

1. Read the guidance and complete the application form (available to download in Word format below).
2. Ask two appropriate sponsors to complete the sponsor's declaration in the application form.
3. Email the form to administration@udg.org.uk

Recognised Practitioner membership costs £85.00 per year. There is no application fee.

Assessment

The assessment procedure is as follows:

• Confirmation of receipt of application by UDG office. Any obvious problems with the application will be flagged up at this stage (inappropriate sponsors, insufficient experience etc)
• Detailed assessment of information submitted within the application by the UDG's Recognised Practitioner Assessment Panel, made up of a small group of members from the Executive Committee.
• The panel will make one of three recommendations:
  • the applicant should be elected as a Recognised Practitioner,
  • request further information if there is any uncertainty or ambiguity, or
  • reject the application (providing a clear reason for this decision based on the assessment criteria).
• The panel's recommendations are then presented to the full UDG Executive Committee at its next meeting, where other members have the opportunity to query the panel's recommendations and, on the basis of these discussions, either approve or reject the application
• The full process should take no longer than two months from receipt of the application to a final decision (unless there are any difficult issues to address). 
• In cases where the Executive Committee cannot come to a decision, the applicant may be invited for a brief interview to further elaborate upon their skills and experience.
• You will be informed of the outcome of your application by email.  The UDG Executive Committee's decision is final.
• The full process should take no longer than two months from receipt of the application to a final decision (unless there are any difficult issues to address). We will inform you if there are likely to be any delays.  If you have not heard from us within two months of us confirming receipt of your application, please feel free to contact administration@udg.org.uk to follow up.

IMPORTANT

The award of Recognised Practitioner in Urban Design is made by the Executive Committee of the Urban Design Group, on the basis of information submitted in the application form and declarations made by the candidate, in addition to the recommendation of two independent sponsors.

At the time the award is made each candidate is able to demonstrate by their declared experience and qualifications (where appropriate), that they had striven to contribute to the practice of urban design and should, in the opinion of the Executive Committee, be capable of making a valued contribution to urban design in future years.