ABSTRACT
The dictionary definition of design as a verb runs along the lines “prepare the preliminary sketch or the plans for …, especially to plan the form and structure” or “to plan and fashion artistically and skilfully”. Whilst these definitions might be technically correct, they seem to fall somewhat short of the experience and reality of design in the context of masterplanning new urban developments in the modern world. The latter may indeed lead to the creation of sketches and plans for the new physical form of an area of the city, small or large; but the entirety of the design process for larger projects is more akin to a collaborative problem solving process than simply one of drawing up plans. In times past the architect or masterbuilder had to solve the problem of gravity; but apart from that he was largely left to his own devices to draw up plans of what he wanted to create. Designing in the twenty-first century requires the designer (or more likely design team) instead to resolve a multitude of different demands, whether generated by the physical environment (contain some contaminated soil or avoid a major electrical line) or legal constraints (cannot build above a certain height) or social and cultural expectations (the local community wants a new community centre).
