Urban Design is the process of shaping a city’s physical form. The principal elements that Urban Design examines include: parks, open space, and other places that people may gather: streets, sidewalks, and walkways; bridges and water bodies; historical features; trees and landscaping; and lighting and signage.
Urban design takes a holistic approach toward all the physical elements that make up a city.
Urban design shapes these elements in ways that create urban environments that are functional, attractive, comfortable, animated, stimulating and safe. While urban design looks at the physical nature of things, its principal goal is to elevate the human experience of urban spaces.
The mission of the Urban Design Division is to:
Create: Envision and implement beautiful, sustainable, and people-centered places that build and serve diverse communities.
Serve: Provide urban design services – internally to the City of Austin and externally to the broader community – that balance function and design, heritage and change, vision and reality.
Advocate: Promote the value of urban design by building relationships through collaboration, education, outreach, and example.
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