Creating Gentle Density
A two-day urban design master-class
Saturday March 1st and Saturday March 8th, 2025
Sold out
A two-day urban design master-class taught over two Saturdays by Create Streets’s experienced urban designers. You’ll learn gentle density design principles and how to create beautiful and sustainable places, applying those lessons to a London location.
The £299 course fee covers both days of the course
We no longer create the type of gentle density places which are best suited to supporting happy, healthy and sustainable urban lives. We rarely create neighbourhoods with the intensity necessary for communities to flourish but with the space so as not to feel crowded or overwhelmed.
Based on our wide experience designing places for councils, developers, land promoters and community groups, the course will teach the connections between urban form and design with wellbeing, sustainability, prosperity, value and popularity and practically how to design such places. We will apply those lessons to a site near our office in central London.
The course is aimed at planners, urban designers, architects, students and enthusiasts interested in gentle density urbanism and placemaking. Professional experience is not a requirement. We welcome enthusiasts with an interest in place. Some proficiency in sketching is recommended though not required.
Day one
Talks and case studies on core aspects of urban design
Reviewing the evidence into what makes for popular, healthy, happy and sustainable places
Site visit and context analysis plan
Day two
Devising a site vision, design principles and concept masterplan for the site
Presenting your scheme for feedback
Tutors
Nicholas Boys Smith MBE MA MPhil (Dist) AoU FRSA, founder and chairman, Create Streets, author of studies into the links between design with wellbeing and prosperity who has lectured at many universities.
George Payiatis BA MA, senior urban designer at Create Streets who is leading a wide range of master-planning, design code and regeneration projects across the UK.
Robert Kwolek BA (Hons), senior architectural designer at Create Streets who is leading a wide range of master-planning and design coding projects across England and teaches at the University of Oxford.
Afterwards
The course includes a month of feedback time during which students can submit their work for informal evaluation and critique.
When and where
• The course will take place from 10:00 till 16:00
• It will take place in Create Streets’s offices in central London at 81 Lambeth Walk, SE11 6DX which is 8 minutes’ walk from Lambeth North Tube Station and about a 15-20 minutes walk from Waterloo or Vauxhall Stations. It is also close to bus routes 3, 59, 159, 344, 360, 77 and C10
Practicalities
The £299 course fee covers both days of the course
Students will be given a recommended list of drawing materials to bring along, but pens, rulers and pencils will be available for those who don’t have them. Tea, coffee, water and snacks will be provided but students should bring a packed lunch.
Feedback from students on the Create Streets Foundation Urban Design Course
“Life changing”
“Fabulous course… my mind was buzzing.”
“It was a remarkable privilege and … a memorable experience to work alongside such an interested and interesting group under the guidance of some of the world’s leading practitioners.”
“It has made a significant difference to my perception of place”
“The course has given me a much greater understanding of the principles that should dictate our projects.”