Montague, LM., 2017.

Representational Practices in Urban Design

This paper explores interpretation and communication of urban design concepts through visual representation. It
will discuss how designers graphically represent certain key place-making concepts and ideas through images and
models, as well as how this representation of ideas relates to how they think and how it shapes the qualities of
actual places. The core notion is that for professionals directly involved in place-making, such as architects,
landscape architects, planners, engineers, and urban designers, there is a relationship between their ability to
represent certain concepts or aspects of a place, and the resulting design of places. The paper highlights the
nature of this relationship theoretically, historically and, using contemporary international case studies, provide
practical insights into different approaches to representational and therefore place making practice. By highlighting
the nature of the relationship between forms of representation and forms of thinking we hope to offer new insights
into these forms of design practice.