Learn the importance of a systematic approach to urban and town planning in this free online urban design course.

This urban and town planning and design course covers the essential elements of the urban design planning process. We lay out the principles used to prepare neighbourhood housing and economic development plans and go through the important phases in the creation of a transportation plan. We also explore functional classification systems for urban streets, bikeway selection and network development, effective sidewalk design characteristics and the tools and programme models for traffic calming.

This course combines urban design with civil engineering and lays out the fundamentals of stormwater management. We explain how to establish a water supply system for metropolitan cities and compare the roles and responsibilities of government institutions, the private sector and citizens in the context of solid waste management. The course establishes the importance of involving the general public in the design of greenways and trails. We explain how to conduct an environmental site analysis and discuss the role of leadership in energy and environmental design. We then examine demand analysis, projections of the economy and econometric models before identifying the function of a housing needs assessment.

Urban planners and civil engineers are responsible for designing cities that protect both people and their environment. With this in mind, we discuss environmental impact assessments, fiscal impact assessments and traffic impact studies. We provide techniques used to preserve open space and establish the advantages of doing so. The course lays out the considerations relevant to farmland preservation and explain how they form part of a strategy to safeguard active agricultural landscapes, maintain the production of food and fibre and regulate population growth. This urban design and civil engineering course explores the fascinating field of urban planning and explains how it creates towns and cities that serve their citizens and the environment.