The planning dimension of sustainable urban design

a framework for sustainable urban design that lays out the elements of sustainable form implementable at different urban scales and highlights relationships across the scales is indeed a helpful guide for urban design practitioners and researchers. it is important to work toward developing such a framework, even though it must be based on incomplete knowledge and will need revising: we cannot wait until we have all the answers before we try to undertake sustainable city building. likewise, it makes sense to focus the framework on the physical form elements of sustainability because physical form is at the core of what urban design deals with. although the scope of urban design is large, it cannot directly address every aspect of urban life; if urban design tries to be everything then it becomes nothing. for example, although urban designers should be cognizant of how particular urban forms might support or not support certain social and economic goals, it is not the role of urban designers to directly set social or economic policy, but rather to respond to such policies. While i question some of the physical form elements in nico larco’s (2015) proposed sustainable urban design matrix (is an extensive urban forest canopy appropriate for all climate zones?), think some additional elements related to mental health should be added (noise mitigation and greenery), and want more discussion of the performance dimensions of the elements, in all the matrix feels like a good start. However, the framework, as a whole, would be considerably strengthened and more helpful to practitioners if it incorporated more nuanced discussion of the planning dimensions of sustainable urban design. a robust framework for sustainable urban design must specifically link the physical elements to be achieved at each urban scale with the planning policies, regulations and processes that make that achievement possible and probable. for designers, focusing on the physical form aspects of urban design is admittedly both absorbing and fun. some urban design students want to focus entirely on form and they develop thoughtful studio and thesis projects that incorporate many aspects of sustainable urban form in a holistic way; however, other students create equally compelling design projects and at the same time craft planning policies or guidelines that would facilitate its implementation. Many of the latter students have an architectural education, have worked as design professionals, have encountered in their professional lives planning policies and regulations that work against sustainable urban form or have experienced how supportive Disclosure statement