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Measuring Urban Design

Metrics for Livable Places

  • Book
  • © 2013

Overview

Authors:
  1. Reid Ewing

    1. Dept. of City & Metropolitan Planning, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA

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  2. Otto Clemente

    1. Transportation, Fairfax County, Fairfax, USA

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  3. Kathryn M. Neckerman
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  4. Marnie Purciel-Hill
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  5. James W. Quinn
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  6. Andrew Rundle
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  • There is no other book available that explains how to tailor an urban design strategy to a specific community
  • Provides operational definitions and measurement protocols for five intangible qualities of urban design: imageability, visual enclosure, human scale, transparency, and complexity
  • Provides a field survey instrument that has been tested and refined for use by lay observers
  • The series draws from the expertise of some of the world’s leading scholars in the field of Metropolitan Planning + Design

Part of the book series: Metropolitan Planning + Design (METRO)

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Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
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  2. Introduction1

    • Reid Ewing, Otto Clemente
    Pages 1-23

  3. Data Collection

    • Reid Ewing, Otto Clemente
    Pages 25-34

  4. Analysis and Final Steps

    • Reid Ewing, Otto Clemente
    Pages 35-62

  5. Urban Design Qualities for New York City

    • Kathryn M. Neckerman, Marnie Purciel-Hill, James W. Quinn, Andrew Rundle
    Pages 63-82

  6. Validation of Measures

    • Reid Ewing, Otto Clemente
    Pages 83-98

  7. Field Manual

    • Reid Ewing, Otto Clemente
    Pages 99-135

  8. Back Matter

    Pages 137-183
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Keywords

About this book

What makes strolling down a particular street enjoyable? The authors of Measuring Urban Design argue it's not an idle question. Inviting streets are the centerpiece of thriving, sustainable communities, but it can be difficult to pinpoint the precise design elements that make an area appealing. This accessible guide removes the mystery, providing clear methods to assess urban design.

The book provides operational definitions and measurement protocols of five intangible qualities of urban design, specifically: imageability, visual enclosure, human scale, transparency, and complexity. The result is a reliable field survey instrument grounded in constructs from architecture, urban design, and planning. Readers will also find illustrated, step-by-step instructions to use the instrument and a scoring sheet for easy calculation of urban design quality scores.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Dept. of City & Metropolitan Planning, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA

    Reid Ewing

  • Transportation, Fairfax County, Fairfax, USA

    Otto Clemente

About the authors

Reid Ewing (author of Best Development Practices, Planners Press and Growing Cooler, ULI) is a professor of City & Metropolitan Planning at the University of Utah, associate editor of the Journal of the American Planning Association, columnist for Planning magazine, Fellow of the Urban Land Institute, and member of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED LP-Technical Advisory Group.
Otto Clemente is a senior transportation planner in Fairfax County, VA.

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