Resumen de Developments in urban design review: The lessons of west coast cities of the United States for British practice
This paper reviews design control experience and developments in five major west coast cities in the USA Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Irvine and San Diego. It seeks to establish whether there are lessons for British practice. After briefly exploring the differences in the planning systems and the problems of comparison it attempts to explore a set of prescriptive themes that relate to the analysis of urban character, the integration of a city vision and a design strategy, the development of design principles and criteria, the desire to be systematic and consistent, the focus on compatibility not conformity of design, the devolution of control to the community, and the creation of user-friendly planning documentation. All these ideas and aspirations are considered to be fundamental to an effective and accomplished praxis of design control
