ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses urban design's social dimension and the relationship between space and society. Urban design is often misunderstood as a purely physical discipline concerned only with the aesthetic impacts of development. Space and society are clearly related. It is difficult to conceive of ‘space’ as being without social content and, equally, of society without a spatial component. Consideration starts with the dangers of architectural, ‘physical/environmental determinism’. That is where the physical environment is seen as having a determining influence on human behaviour, one that negates the role of human agency and social influences. The spectre of environmental determinism haunts many debates about urban design, fed, over many decades, by the over-claiming among planners, architects and urban designers about the social consequences of their projects. A physical setting is a potential environment, providing a range of environmental opportunities regarding what people are able to do.
