The art of adaptive design

摘要

Stephen Marshall's (2016) paper is an intriguing exploration of urban design as a form of art. This topic is prone to confusion, so attempts to achieve a measure of clarity are most welcome. Marshall's effort to encompass informal urbanism and urban infrastructure at all scales, along with formal compositions, is admirable. The paper embraces multiple professions and considers their various contributions to creating beauty in the urban environment. Marshall is quite correct to identify the limitations of conceiving urban design as large-scale sculpture or set decoration. The conceptual frameworks provided by Fokt and Lalo are used effectively to tease out the scope and special character of urban design as an artistic endeavour.