An Integrated Approach

Chase 'windmill' tower at Newhall, Harlow

To create a successful and sustainable place requires an understanding of how all elements of the built environment will work together. Considering the relationships between these various parts at the design stage can help to ensure places deliver the required social, environmental and economic objectives.

Integrated urban design is about making a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. To ensure the beneficial relationships between all elements are maximised the design team should:

• Identify the relationships between the elements of the built environment and how these can help deliver the objectives Identify the key objectives and priorities for the project. There will be some common factors between developments but priorities on individual schemes will depend on the location and the nature of the scheme. Workshop sessions with all interested groups, at the beginning of a project can help identify priorities and can be used to agree and set objectives
• Assess the quality of information held on each elements and their parameters. Some elements of the scheme will be flexible and others will not
• Use the data to develop different design scenarios

Coordination of the design team is important if all the different disciplines and elements of the design are to work together successfully. This often requires a single person to be responsibility of the co-ordination over the lifetime of the development.