ABSTRACT
When asked to compile essays for an urban design reader we jumped in without first establishing for ourselves what constituted urban design. Consequently everything we read was fair game for inclusion in this volume-as long as it touched on urbanism, design, or both. To define urban design is difficult; indeed, there is no accepted definition. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the symposium at Harvard University at which José Luis Sert coined the term, Alex Krieger attempted a definition. Drawing from definitions of the word territory in the dictionary, he came up with “spheres of urbanistic action to promote the vitality, livability and physical character of cities.”1 With this definition in mind, we open this book with Urban Process, in which we consider urban design as “spheres of urbanistic action.”
