Free online courseUrban Design

Course Description

Urban design starts with learning how to read a place before you shape it. This free online course helps you develop that ability through practical, beginner-friendly workflows used in architectural and urbanism studios. You will learn to decode context, movement, climate, land use and public space patterns so your design decisions feel grounded, defensible and clear to others. Instead of guessing, you will practice turning observations into actionable insights that support better massing, circulation, program and landscape responses.

Along the way, you will build confidence with the visual language that professionals use to communicate at the city and neighborhood scale. You will explore ways to create figure-ground drawings, site plans, layered axonometrics, landscape sections and fast urban diagrams that make complexity legible. The course connects analytical thinking with strong graphic output, helping you move from raw information to compelling diagrams and presentations that tell a coherent story.

You will also get exposure to digital techniques that speed up your process and improve accuracy, including terrain and contour workflows and common modeling shortcuts, as well as methods for polishing graphics and layouts for juries, competitions and portfolio reviews. Beyond software fluency, the emphasis stays on judgment: selecting what matters, organizing it, and communicating it with hierarchy and clarity. By the end, you should feel more prepared to approach any unfamiliar site, build a complete analysis package, and present urban ideas with confidence and professionalism.