Urban design based research within the Bartlett School of Planning focuses on public space design and management; the design dimension of planning; questions of form, type and quality; and the value of design.

Work on the morphological patterns that allow connections to be made at the neighbourhood level, an the impacts this has on public perceptions of place and quality of life are ongoing, as are enquiries of the economics of design, the social use of space, coding and the desirable organisation of city form.