An Integrative Theory of Urban Design

The ideas that inform urban design usually coalesce around contending approaches, each associated with one or two leading writers. This article finds that these approaches share an intellectual foundation: They implicitly acknowledge the “noncommodifiability” of the human experience across property boundaries. They share the view that good design seeks to reintegrate the human experience of urban form in the face of real estate markets that would treat land and buildings as discrete commodities. The great writers on urban design have more or less explicitly defended this intellectual position by appeal to the nebulous concept of the “organic.” Rather than just asserting that everything is part of an organic whole, this article identifies the integrative principles through which urban environments can transcend commodification. These principles include good form, legibility, vitality, and meaning.