Why it's needed
Who will it benefit?

One of the defining characteristics of urban design is that it is a process involving a range of disciplines.

Yes, there are professional urban designers: specialists in the art of placemaking who choose ‘urban designer’ as their professional label. They deserve more recognition than they generally receive. But many of them are also architects, building conservationists, engineers, landscape architects, planners or surveyors.

There are also other professionals who may not call themselves urban designers, and who are happy to fly under the flag of one or more of the established professions, but whose way of working nevertheless puts them in the mainstream of urban design. Many of the new generation of professionals expect to develop new skills and areas of expertise throughout their career, and some have more than one professional affiliation.

We need to raise standards through training, education and learning on the job for all those involved in designing, making, maintaining and contributing to places: councillors, design champions, communities, clients and a wide range of professionals. Capacitycheck is a method of assessing what capacity individuals and organisations have, and drawing up a plan for increasing it.

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