This is the west hills neighborhood in Portland, one of the wealthiest and most beautiful neighborhoods I’ve ever been in

Does anyone have any examples of unique/adaptive designs for bike lane and intersection treatments, thinking outside the box, stuff like that? This is for a project.

If you're young and renting, you probably do this already - roommates is already a super widespread phenomenon. Why can't developers just build houses designed for having roommates, but call it a "single family house"? What's the difference between a really big house with a ton of rooms and a multi family house except the label you slap on it?

Hi Reddit,

I’m an early-career urban designer facing a bit of a crossroads and could use some advice. I’ve just landed a job with a well-established company after leaving a startup that didn’t align with my goals. The new position comes with better pay and a structured work environment, which is a big plus.

However, the role is officially titled “Analyst” and involves responsibilities like market research, business model analysis, and creating pitch decks for investments. The company has made it clear that urban design will only make up 20-30% of the work, while the rest focuses on business development and management tasks.

I’m okay with this shift since I’d like to explore roles that go beyond design. But here’s my worry: will the title “Analyst” create challenges when applying for future urban design-focused roles? I’m concerned that hiring managers might not see me as a designer, even if I’ve done some urban design work in this job.

The responsibilities are broad and seem exciting, but I can’t shake the feeling that having “Urban Designer” in my title (even if it’s paired with “Analyst”) would better reflect my skillset and keep me aligned with my career goals.

So, here are my questions:

1. Does the role title matter as much as the actual work experience when building a career in urban design?
2. Should I try to negotiate for a hybrid title like “Urban Design Analyst”?
3. For those who’ve taken broader roles like this, did it help or hurt your career when transitioning back to design-heavy jobs?

Any insights from urban design, planning, or related fields would be awesome! Thanks in advance! 😊

Hi Everyone :)

I'm currently studying Engineering Design and my course is VERY project-based so I've developed a lot of skills in research, systems design, CAD, understanding components for urban systems etc. I've always wanted to design urban systems for sustainability and I've been going back and forth between pursuing a master's in Landscape Architecture or a master's in Urban Design.

The main challenge has been that most masters I've come across for LA requires a bachelor's in archi/LA and there aren't many options for Urban Design. I'm really not interested in Urban Planning because I want a master's that is focused on design or for it to be studio-centered. I know the US has a lot of options for Urban Design but they're really expensive even with scholarships.

I've taken an Architecture summer course where I learned how to use the Adobe creative suite and Rhino. I'm currently teaching myself ArcGIS and plan to teach myself Revit before I graduate. Would this be sufficient to apply for LA? Or does anyone know of any master's of LA that I can apply to with an Engineering bachelor's? I'm looking at universities in the EU as that's the most affordable options for me. Thank you :"))

Hi everyone,

I’ve just graduated with a degree in civil engineering, but my true passion has always been urban planning. For years, I’ve been fascinated by urban design and planning, sustainable cities, and creating better living spaces. I can’t stop thinking about how I want to contribute to this field.

Here’s the challenge: I live in Jordan, where urban planning is nearly non-existent. The urban plans here are poor, and there are no urban planning firms or organizations to apply to. My dream is to help improve this someday, but I still need LOTS of experience.

I’ve considered applying to international organizations like GDCI, but I lack experience in urban planning, which makes it tough to get noticed. At the same time, I need to support myself financially, so I’m thinking about pursuing something more sustainable, like construction management, and that might pull me away from urban planning.

I’m torn because I really want to pursue urban planning, but I feel stuck. How can I gain experience in a field that doesn’t have opportunities in my country? Are there online resources, volunteer opportunities, or remote internships that could help me build my skills and portfolio?

If anyone has advice or has been in a similar situation, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Hi guys. I am a geography student and I would like to hear from professionals like you what you do as a work. 1 what is urbanism 2 the skills you need to have ? 3 how do you work ? Do you make surveys, go on the field or stay in an office. 4 Which type of personality you need to make it work ? 5 what are the difficulty of such a job nowadays?

Why is there such little construction in Los Angeles of new density, particularly high rises?

Many other sunbelt cities have recently experienced explosions of high rises residential construction, even San Diego. These are other cities with pervasive single family zoning, so I don’t think the answer is as simple as that. Does it come down also to local permitting/regulation? What do y’all think?

Are there any problems or opportunities that would make sense for multiple cities to work together on? This would be in the same sense of how nations invest in things like technology and infrastructure, and where perhaps economies of scale would make it beneficial to do so.

As an example, it perhaps makes sense to move food production closer to cities, but the technology isn't really in place yet to make that a viable option in most cases (such as vertical farming). Maybe it makes sense for a collection of cities to tax ourselves together, and work with schools and companies to push that technology forward.

That may not be a great example, but it seems like there are a lot of things that aren't getting funded at the state and national level, that urbanites could pursue on our own. These things could benefit cities directly, and society in general. Education, energy, housing, transportation all come to mind, but I'm not really sure of specific examples where it may make sense to do so. I would love to hear if anyone could see some viable opportunities where this would make sense.

I just completed my undergraduate degree in architecture and am thinking of pursuing a master's degree soon. Which among these has the best scope in the US?

I'm from the US, I only have my own daily experiences to guide me, but I have been thinking on something. If we replaced Stop lines with speed bumps that may offer a starting point for moving towards raised sidewalks for safety.

My logic is that people should be more adherent to the stopping location of the stop sign. The speed bumps will punish driving through them and will cause a more gradual leaving of the stop. It can't possibly stop everyone from driving poorly, but it will incentivize going slower approaching the stops.

Any input on the idea?

What type of street or road is this? On the left are two high speed lanes. On the right is a low speed lane. There is limited access between the high and low speed lanes. Driveways enter the low speed lane which is also for bicycles. Trees and vegetation separate the high speed lanes from the low speed lane. This design in China seems safer than stroads in North America.

I have a choice of Bachelor degrees between Architecture and Urban Planning (as one course) and Urban Planning separately (of cousr with some architecture modules). I don't know what to choose. Perfectly I want to do Urban design in the future. Where would you say there is more Urban design in these two degrees?

Architecture for me might be too specificly focused on building and its construction, whcih is not exactly what I want to do. Though I am very good at drawing. I like cities, I like how they look and judge them by how they look as a whole structure, I don't usually admire separate components as buildings.

And how good is urban planning/ design in the future perspective. Thanks and sorry for some mistakes