ABSTRACT
To those unfamiliar with the process, design is rather mysterious, driven by artistic inspiration and primarily concerned with visual aesthetics rather than practical purpose. This view of design as inspiration is also shared by many designers who see themselves as gifted artists. The contrary view is of design as a problem-solving activity, concerned with the issue of spatial organisation to meet functional needs. This approach has its roots in the engineering outlook of the nineteenth century, with its railways, bridges, buildings and new structures of concrete, iron and glass. The design process is rational and experimental rather than simply inspirational. It works through a process of deduction rather than induction, where a design solution is an early hypothesis to be tested, drawing on pre-existing models, rather than the end-point of the long accumulation of facts. In sketching out design proposals, urban designers make quick and often unconscious evaluations of the options they are exploring.
