This chapter presents a methodological approach inspired by the various critical, continental approaches to deconstructing and recalibrating urban design in the context of development in the global south. After discussing the need to recalibrate urban design in terms of more complex understandings of informality; 'slum' as theory and as praxis; the notion of 'worlding'; and the existence of a multiplicity of urbanisms, the chapter highlights the importance of the theoretical constructions of Lefebvre, Foucault, Agamben and Rancière for our urban design research agenda. Its academic and practicebased application is elaborated through a brief discussion of the Building and Urban Design in Development (BUDD) programme at The Bartlett. These conceptual understandings serve as a basis for (re)calibrating urban design research and practice, defining a new interpretation of the contemporary challenges of design at the urban scale that encompasses the complex interactions and actors involved in the 'production of space'. © Matthew Carmona and the contributors 2014. All rights reserved.