Practice What You Preach!

Account of Urban Design from the Perspective of the Practitioner

Abstract

Contemporary urban planning is a highly complex process, often spanning many years and involving many different types of stakeholders. Western countries and cities are increasingly conducting construction and involvement processes along the same lines. However, there continue to be significant cultural and geographical differences in how designers, planners, developers, and citizens understand those concepts. This paper aims to give a practitioner’s perspective on how the design and planning process works in a Danish context. It does so by contextualizing Danish planning and elaborating on the tricky choices faced by designers and planners, elaborating on the specific philosophy of SLA. It then finishes by going through some of the projects that SLA designed to give the reader an understanding of the involvement process, design, and learnings.