Permanent Faculty: Maged Senbel
The study of urban design is one of the fastest growing fields in North American planning schools. New urban design concentrations and degree programs are appearing in many schools, to help create urban communities in which people can live, work, learn, play and recreate. This is an antidote to the large lots of single-family homes that are a car trip away from everything and that have come to characterize urban sprawl. Contemporary urban designers are conscious of the holism necessary for improving transit functions, public health, place-making, providing ecological services, and creating a lively public realm and livable neighbourhoods. Urban design, together with transportation planning, play a direct role in shaping the quality of life or urban dwellers.
The main objective of the Urban Design concentration is to give SCARP students interested in urban design a set of fundamental theories, models and planning tools that can help them understand and shape the built environment. Faculty in SCARP have considerable expertise in urban design both as a stand-alone discipline and as an integral part of larger city making processes. The concentration at SCARP is particularly focused on the integration of social, ecological, hydrological, energy and transportation systems into urban design thinking. Courses are applied and typically include real projects with real clients working in current problems in nearby communities.