The Urban Block A Guide for Urban Designers, Architects and Town Planners

The block is no more than the land and building area defined by streets. It is the nature of the interface between the two, which has a critical impact on the quality of the spaces between those buildings. The importance of the block to city life is well rehearsed, and in any case, we seldom find ourselves in the business of making cities from scratch. But we are in the business of making new houses, neighbourhoods and new local centres, and we need lots of them: 250,000 a year to be imprecise. Against the background of a burgeoning housing shortage in the UK, there are varied issues to be reconciled. The Urban Blockcharts the fall and rise of the perimeter block as the staple of urban form and structure from ancient times. It takes you through the process of understanding, defining, structuring and designing the block. Carefully selected urban and suburban case examples explain “do's and don'ts” of good block layout and will help you to produce better masterplans, while staying in touch with commercial realities.

1. Understanding the Block 2. Defining the Block 3. Designing the Block 4. Block by Example

Jonathan Tarbatt (BA, BSc, Barch, MRUP, MA (Urb. Des.), RTPI, RIBA, AoU) is a qualified urban Designer, Architect and Town Planner with 20+ years’ experience in the public and private sectors in the UK, Australia and Ireland. Chloe Street Tarbatt (BSc, March, ARB) is a qualified architect and works as a lecturer of architecture at the University of Kent in Canterbury.