Report of the Urban Design Skills Working Group, established in 2000 by the DETR and DCMS, to promote a multi-disciplinary approach to training in urban design and consider how local authorities can be encouraged to promote better urban design.

It identifies improvements to urban design education and training from early schooling to professional development and includes analysis of the acquisition of design skills that will support the England to deliver an urban renaissance.

Chaired and administered by CABE, the Group comprises representatives from key professional institutions, higher education and government concerned with the future of the built environment.

The Working Group was set up following a seminar on urban design skills in July 2000 chaired by the Minister for Planning and Construction, in response to the output of the Urban Task Force, which identified lack of relevant skills as one of the main barriers to an urban renaissance in England.

The significance of the Task Force’s work was formally recognised in the Urban White Paper, which set out a comprehensive vision for making the urban renaissance happen and placed urban design at the heart of urban policy-making.

Set up in 2000 the Design Skills Working Group met five times between November 2000 and July 2001 under the chairmanship of Sir Stuart Lipton, Chairman of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. The report sets out an action plan listing specific actions which each member of the Working Group committed to undertake from July 2001 onwards.

Action is required at all levels and across all built environment disciplines to ensure the acquisition of the design skills necessary to deliver urban renaissance. Four key issues need to be addressed to effectively deliver such change and improvement prior to such skill acquisition. These include:

Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
enquiries@cabe.org.uk

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/09/2001

A report from the Urban Design Skills Working Group chaired by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.

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