Conceptualizing design management for construction projects: bridging the caps between urban planning, architectural, and engineering design

The aim of this discussion paper is to propose an inclusive definition of design management for the construction industry. This definition is based on reducing the separation between several fields of activity that have, to date, mostly been elaborated independently. These fields of activity can be broadly grouped into the phase-based and disciplinary design conceptualizations. The differences between the conceptualizations are mainly a result of domain-dependent approaches to the design problem in construction. Based on these differences, construction projects form their design supply chains and delivery methods. Urban planning and architectural design, for example, strongly implement criteria of aesthetic and social value into their processes, whilst focusing less on technical aspects of the project. In such a constellation engineering design can be considered as a commodity in the process. In this traditional representation, engineering is embedded into the architecture of the facility and, respectively, architecture is embedded into the urban planning of the area. Instead of traditionally emphasizing the differences between different planning tasks, this discussion argues for a common representation of design operations in the construction sector. This representation defines design as a group of tasks that share characteristics of the planning problem. Preliminary conclusions of this theoretical discussion suggest that the design process can be grouped into its conceptual and detailing components. In this vein, each discipline reaches the concept solution in a different time-frame and subsequently elaborates the concept solution. In conclusion, this discussion proposes that the flow of design should not be divided in terms of disciplinary and phase-based boundaries, but in terms of conceptual solutions and detailing of each of its constituent parts. The implications of this discussion can be generalized at the level of both construction project management, as well as public policy development.