Urban planning: A Practical Course with Amina Diallo

Start with the purpose

Place Urban planning inside a constrained design problem for a specific user, place, or technical need. Name the result a learner is trying to produce and the constraints that make the skill useful.

How Urban planning actually works

These are the load-bearing ideas. Everything later in the course is an application of one of them, so it is worth reading slowly and returning to when something stops making sense.

• Constraints are the brief, not the obstacle. Screen size, reading distance, and context of use determine what can work at all. Designers who name constraints first produce fewer beautiful solutions that fail in place.
• Hierarchy is decided before decoration. A reader needs to know what to look at first, second, and last. Size, weight, spacing, and contrast create that order far more reliably than colour alone.
• Accessibility requirements are measurable. Contrast ratios, target sizes, and text scaling have published thresholds that can be tested rather than debated. Treating them as measurements moves the argument from taste to evidence.

Misconceptions worth clearing early

Each of these is common, understandable, and expensive to leave in place. Recognising them now saves rework later.

• Designing at full size only. The working canvas flatters the design. Fix: Check at the real size and distance, and on a small screen, before deciding anything is finished.
• Using colour as the only signal. It reads clearly to the designer. Fix: Pair colour with shape, text, or position so the meaning survives colour blindness and greyscale printing.
• Adding elements to fill space. Empty areas feel unfinished. Fix: Treat whitespace as structure; removing an element is a legitimate design decision.

Build the mental model

Connect the key terms as a process rather than a word list. Use this sequence: define the constraint, sketch alternatives, build a testable representation, and revise from critique.

Catch the common miss

Compare a surface-level attempt with one that shows clear requirements, coherent decisions, technical or visual consistency, and useful iteration. Explain the single difference that matters most.

Watch the whole process

Trace a model from the initial prompt to an annotated concept, model, or prototype. Mark each point where the learner must observe, choose, or verify rather than act automatically.

The method, one step at a time

This is the working sequence experienced practitioners follow. Do it in order the first few times, even where a step feels unnecessary.

1. Define the constraint
2. Sketch alternatives
3. Build a testable representation
4. Revise from critique

The order matters: each step produces the information the next one needs.

Where this usually goes wrong

Watch for these while you work through the demonstration rather than afterwards.

• Designing at full size only. The working canvas flatters the design. Fix: Check at the real size and distance, and on a small screen, before deciding anything is finished.
• Using colour as the only signal. It reads clearly to the designer. Fix: Pair colour with shape, text, or position so the meaning survives colour blindness and greyscale printing.
• Adding elements to fill space. Empty areas feel unfinished. Fix: Treat whitespace as structure; removing an element is a legitimate design decision.

Practice with scaffolding

Repeat the model with one detail changed. Keep the prompts visible and say or write the reason for each choice before continuing.

Check before feedback

Use clear requirements, coherent decisions, technical or visual consistency, and useful iteration as the quality test. Make one self-correction before asking the tutor to review the result.

Read the situation

Translate the scenario into a clear task. Separate facts, assumptions, constraints, and information that is interesting but not relevant to Transit basics.

Choosing well under real constraints

Applied work is mostly judgement under limits: less time, less information, and more competing goals than a textbook example allows. These are the decision rules that hold up in practice.

• The layout feels cluttered: Remove or group before resizing; hierarchy problems rarely respond to smaller type.
• A stakeholder disputes a choice: Reframe it around the user task or a measurable standard rather than preference.
• You have limited time to improve a design: Fix contrast, hierarchy, and touch targets first; they affect every user immediately.

Reading the situation before acting

Before choosing an approach, state three things explicitly: what result the situation actually requires, which constraints are fixed rather than preferences, and what evidence would tell you the approach is working. Skipping this step is the most common reason competent work solves the wrong problem.

• Constraints are the brief, not the obstacle. Screen size, reading distance, and context of use determine what can work at all. Designers who name constraints first produce fewer beautiful solutions that fail in place.

Compare real options

Generate two workable approaches and test both against the purpose. Do not hide the tradeoff; name what each option improves and what it gives up.

Make the reasoning visible

Produce an annotated concept, model, or prototype and attach a short decision note. The note should make the result auditable, not merely confident.

Use the rubric, not a feeling

Review the work for clear requirements, coherent decisions, technical or visual consistency, and useful iteration. Record evidence for each judgment so feedback points to something observable.

Diagnostic checklist

Run this before you revise anything. Diagnosing first prevents the common failure of polishing the parts that were already fine.

• Check: Learning similar words together in lists — is this present in your work?
• Check: Mistaking recognition for knowledge — is this present in your work?
• Check: Designing at full size only — is this present in your work?
• Check: Using colour as the only signal — is this present in your work?

The quality bar

This is what finished work looks like in this field. Use it as the standard for your revision rather than a general sense of improvement.

• The most important element is obvious within a few seconds
• Contrast and target sizes meet published accessibility thresholds
• The design survives the real context: small screens, poor light, hurried users

Diagnose before editing

Name the symptom, then ask what decision or missing step produced it. Choose the cause you can address rather than changing everything at once.

Revise and compare

Make one purposeful revision and compare the two versions. Keep the change only if it improves the intended result without creating a larger problem.

Define a finishable brief

Choose a specific audience, result, and boundary for the Community maps capstone. Reduce scope until the project can be finished and reviewed in one focused cycle.

Bringing the parts together

A capstone is judged on coherence, not on the number of techniques it includes. Return to the core ideas and make sure the work demonstrates them rather than decorating them.

• Constraints are the brief, not the obstacle. Screen size, reading distance, and context of use determine what can work at all. Designers who name constraints first produce fewer beautiful solutions that fail in place.
• Hierarchy is decided before decoration. A reader needs to know what to look at first, second, and last. Size, weight, spacing, and contrast create that order far more reliably than colour alone.
• Accessibility requirements are measurable. Contrast ratios, target sizes, and text scaling have published thresholds that can be tested rather than debated. Treating them as measurements moves the argument from taste to evidence.

Standards that make the work credible

These are the marks of work that would be taken seriously by someone who does this professionally.

• The most important element is obvious within a few seconds
• Contrast and target sizes meet published accessibility thresholds
• The design survives the real context: small screens, poor light, hurried users

Build with checkpoints

Plan foundation, first draft, verification, and revision milestones. At each checkpoint, save evidence instead of relying on memory.

Present and continue

Present an annotated concept, model, or prototype with a concise rationale. Use the final rubric to choose one strength to retain and one next practice target.