Urban design re-examined: urban vs. design A. Adhya Lawrence Technological University, USA Abstract This paper examines the relative emphasis of urban and design in theories and practices of urban design. Traditionally, urban design has been conceived as a discourse in design and has been practiced as an extension of architecture, urban planning, and civil engineering. Post-modern critical thinking, in recent literature, questions the design dominance and calls for understanding complex relationships of politics, economics, sociology, behaviour, and environment embedded in the urban context. In the prevalent paradigm, urban designers are primarily trained as architects, planners or engineers, each having one’s own design bias. Architects see design as formal orientation in space. Planners conceive design as implementation of policies reflecting social and economic values. Engineers understand design as efficiency in production. This eclectic approach of urban design creates a partitioned education model with conflicts and contradictions. This paper posits an inclusive model with the focus on urban instead of design. Such an approach allows opportunities of interrelationships and interactions among multiple disciplines and diverse issues. The inclusive approach is teleological (process oriented), relevant (specific), and catalytic (empowering). Rethinking the pedagogy of urban design is critical in understanding diverse roles urban design can play in the process of placemaking and in defining specific responsibilities urban designers can have in the society. Keywords: urban design, pedagogy, urban theory, placemaking, place theory 1 Introduction The 2009 Global Report on Human Settlements, developed by the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UN Habitat), focuses on revisiting urban planning. Renewed interest in urbanism in the last ten to fifteen years has driven this timely exploration of the nature and role of urban planning. The intention is to develop an appropriate and adaptive form of planning that addresses the