Projects and activities

At MUD-Lab our main research focus is on better understanding the role of urban design in professional practice – unpacking and exploring the core skills, knowledge, and competencies that are required to be an urban designer.

We seek to:

• establish urban design as a unique vocational applied discipline;
• precisely understand applied urban design;
• better appreciate the distinct practice of urban design;
• better understand how designers can champion and deliver contextually responsive solutions.

We are well published on issues of urban design process, practice, and pedagogy with recent books including The Urban Design Process (Lund Humphries, London); Applied Urban Design: A Contextually Responsive Approach (Routledge, New York); and The Urban Design Toolkit (RIBA, London).

MUD-Lab research on this theme seeks to consider how urban design and designers can better facilitate sustainable mobility options to enhance the quality of the urban environment and the experience for those moving through it.

Urban design research and practice have historically displayed a tendency to focus on the human scale (a notion that has traditionally been defined through pedestrian movement and characteristics), with the goal of creating and encouraging vibrant public spaces and places.

Research attempting to better understand or articulate people’s experiences of these places is, however, sorely lacking - despite recognition that high-quality urban design has the power to aid in the provision of more pleasant and inclusive journey environments.

This theme includes research projects on the subjects of:

• development governance;
• design review;
• urban design;
• architectural principles and qualities.

In the UK, architectural and urban design is regulated through a system of design control for the public interest, which aims to secure and promote 'quality' in the built environment.

The history of design control is lengthy and complex, with the concept of 'design' offering a range of challenges for a regulatory system of governance.

A simultaneously creative and emotive discipline, design is a difficult thing to regulate objectively or consistently, often leading to policy that is regarded as highly discretionary and flexible.

This makes regulatory outcomes difficult to predict, as approaches undertaken by the agents of this control system can vary not only from place to place but also from agent to agent.

Our research seeks to engage at the interface of this 'veil', exploring the perceptions and attitudes of key stakeholders to better understand the system and how design quality is articulated and critically evaluated.

MUD Lab research cuts across urban design and its intersection with the key topics of landscape and health.

This research theme focuses on the role and design of green infrastructure, as well as more widely considering the relationship between the built environment and peoples’ health.

Our team delivered training for regional local planning authority officers through an award from the RTPI northwest.

Our team hosted delegates from international universities as part of a visit to the Manchester Centre for Political Theory, leading a tour of urban developments across Manchester City Centre with an accompanied talk reflecting on the changing nature of the city’s built environment.

The team delivered an urban design-focused exhibition at the UoM Bicentennial Festival, supported by the award of a £900 grant.

The exhibition included a research project into the history of the UoM campus development and its relationship with the surrounding neighbourhoods and the architectural and urban design approaches, which was communicated through a 3D model and series of posters.

The MUD-Lab team presented an interactive exhibition across two days at the Manchester Science Festival, based in Manchester Central Library.

The festival theme was Future Cities and the exhibition included a series of activities to encourage the public to think about how future cities will be designed.

The exhibition included the construction of an interactive 3D model of Manchester City Centre, built in the MUD-Lab model-making workshop, as well as investigating and creating an interactive virtual reality experience, supported by the Humanities eLearning team.