What is the summer school?

"I just wanted to drop you a line to say how much I enjoyed the urban design course in Newcastle... I expected it to be intense but had no idea you planned on fitting so much in to such a short period - not that I'm complaining! I enjoyed every minute."
Shane Prendergast 2008 delegate

CABE and its partners have developed the urban design summer school to respond to the need for an accessible, comprehensive and intensive urban design learning event.

The summer school, which runs over four days, acts as a hothouse, helping people develop the knowledge, skills and passion to confidently create successful urban places. It is a unique learning forum for different disciplines to share thinking and build strong networks and teams, both at the school and back in the workplace.

Now in its sixth year, the summer school aims to make you more effective at ensuring higher-quality designed environments at each stage of the design and delivery process. Learning focuses on hands-on activities and explores best practice, while leading professionals share their experiences to inspire, encourage and challenge you to do more in your own work.

The summer school is growing and developing its programme, to make learning more fun and more exciting, and to ensure that we all become effective champions of good design. The 2009 school programme will focus on:

• your individual learning needs
• the role of design at all stages of the development process
• design at different scales: the ‘big picture’ and the detailed one
• raising commitment to the quality of design
• gaining insights through the sharing of delegate experiences
• promoting your professional effectiveness through action planning, networking and post-school sessions.

Learning from real places

The urban design summer school, is located in a new location each year and draws on England's towns, cities and regions to find new design challenges. Each day of the school focuses on different stages of the design process and the different scales at which design works.

At the school, you will experience classes, seminars, workshops and structured discussions, all aimed at making learning as effective and enjoyable for you. These include the following:

Plenary presentations

Keynote and high-profile speakers address the whole school, providing the bigger picture and the inspiration to make change happen.

The big design project

This hands-on workshop will introduce you to a choice of sites in and around Bristol. Drawing on the theme of the day, you will develop an urban structure and layout for the site, and then design one of the public spaces of your masterplan in more detail.

City walk

On the fist day we observe and analyse parts of the host city to find a common understanding of what makes the location work or not.

Site visits

Site visits are the starting point, helping you gain an understanding of the project sites and the issues important to each type of site. You will visit a wide range of projects in the Bristol area and gain a better understanding of what works and the types of spaces you enjoy most.

Group work

Additional group work sessions help you understand the perspectives of fellow delegates and provide direction and planning for taking the learning back to your workplace.

Shop for skills

At certain points, you will be able to pick up new urban design skills that you choose based on your interests. Topics will focus on specific skills related to analysis, design, presentation and delivery.

Anatomy of a development

By exploring a key local development, calling witnesses from the various stakeholders that shaped the new place and asking you to examine alternative strategies, we will identify the critical factors in the delivery process that reinforce or undermine quality.