The agency has developed an extensive ‘checklist’ of urban design principles applicable at the neighbourhood scale, to support an integrated approach to neighbourhood design.

The principles can be applied across five key city objectives – defined as the Compact City, Connected City, Inclusive City, Vibrant City, and Resilient City. They can also be applied across sectors (transport, housing, public space, utilities, etc), and across spatial dimensions (neighbourhood, street, open public space, and building unit).

Developed by principal author Anastasia Ignatova, an architect and urban planner at the UN-Habitat Urban Lab, the guide has been driven by the need to translate global, national, and local policies to local planning and design interventions and projects.

Called ‘MY Neighborhood’, the guide expands on UN-Habitat’s ‘Five principles of sustainable neighbourhood planning’, created a decade ago, by providing an extensive list of key design principles and tips, grounded in a body of research and project experience.

Each principle within each of the five city-wide objectives is described using specific examples or, in some cases, measurable indicators. The Compact City, for example, drills down into proximity and walkability; mixed land use; efficient public transport; efficient density; and preservation and integration of blue green infrastructure. Similarly, the Connected City considers efficient street network; multi-modal transport; proximity and walkability; mixed use development; ecological connectivity; complete streets; active streets; and network of open public space.

In essence, observes the Urban Lab, the value of ‘MY Neighborhood’, is to deepen the links to local economy, place identity, inclusivity, and climate change, and enable the adaptability of principles and tips across diverse cultures and regions. By classifying design interventions, it supports a design process that integrates scale and sectors, as well as prioritising interventions and identifying commonalities.

Applications

The guide can be used to support the urban planning process in several ways. For instance, it can be used to direct city-wide spatial analysis to identify a vision for the city, as well as priority principles; areas in need; urban challenges; and good practices.

The principles can help support engagement by encouraging multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder collaboration. They can reveal insights into the performance of an urban area, according to the five city objectives, and help monitor the outcome of urban design interventions.

In addition to being used for reference or as a checklist, the principles and tips can also serve as explanatory and capacity building material to support the process of urban transformation. A matrix format, for example, can be created – where the city objectives are set as the x-axis, and dimensions are set as the y-axis. Formatted as a large mural, this can act as a reminder of sustainable design principles and as an idea board to collect other local practices and recommendations.

The digital ‘MY Neighborhood’ also comes in the form of a matrix, emphasising the relationship between the five city objectives and across scales. This matrix can be used for brainstorming exercise, placemaking activities and to collate examples of best practice, says the Urban Lab.