The Role of the Architect in Inner City Development

This essay explores the role of architects in inner city development, focusing on sustainability, safety, and affordability. It discusses how architects collaborate with urban designers, stakeholders, and the society to create liveable spaces and improve the quality of life in urban areas.

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Assignment 2: Argumentative Essay
The Role of the Architect in Inner City Development
Student Name
Student Code
Academic and Professional Communication
TH1010522
Name of the University
19-June-2019

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Introduction
Inner-city development goes beyond just designing and building homes and parks for
society. Urban planning and design today has become an integral part of inner-city
development and sustainability, which makes the role of an architect an indispensable part of
urban city designing. Most of the famous and popular constructions, along with
considerations of building smart and green cities have arisen from the creative and innovative
capabilities of architects involved with designing and planning urban and rural city
developments. Architecture is the inclusion of all artworks and infrastructures of the built
environment, which further necessitates the role of architects in delivering not just art but the
tremendous value to society (Alaily-Mattar and Thierstein 2018).
Thus, this essay will explain the role of architects in creating sustainability, which
goes beyond the application of creative and innovative skills to improve aesthetic value. In
accordance to the research conducted on the role of architects in inner-city development,
studies have highlighted the complexity of thinking, defining, and planning urban design
especially for architects to create liveable spaces for humans that involves a great amount of
design experimentation and collaboration with urban designers, investors, stakeholders, and
the society itself. The essay will attempt to explore how architects are involved with
collaborative planning with the aim of building and development inner-cities by focussing on
sustainability, safety, and affordability. Furthermore, the paper will argue about the relevance
of an architect’s role in sustainable practices and the consequences of sustainability in urban
site planning and development in creating better and healthier public spaces, increasing a
sense of community and facilitating social interactions.
Discussion
Architects play a critical role in sustainable designing and planning the aspects of a
built environment, i.e. artworks, infrastructure, buildings, parks, etc. The value of design
created by architects while involved with a design and planning process helps deal with
infrastructural and architectural problems with different approaches to find and select the
most appropriate of the options (Hermanns 2018). This is what asserts the importance and
influence of an architect in design experimentation and primarily what gets architects
involved in sustainable site planning that can cater to the requirements of people. While
keeping aesthetics in mind, one of the most crucial roles of an architect is to decide on the

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arrangement of structures and create a layout that considers the land use, government laws
and regulations, creating and shaping available space, and finalizing a workable layout to suit
organizational and societal needs (Abdelfattah 2018). While taking these factors into account
while site planning for inner-city development, architects also collaborate with others
involved in the development process, i.e. local community, stakeholders, and the government.
Considering the indispensable role that architects have in reducing environmental impact,
catering to clients’ requirements, and improve the accessibility of ecosystem services and
facilities, sustainable inner-city development helps promote affordable yet healthy lifestyles.
By creating public spaces that satisfy the needs of all parties without compromising on the
aesthetic and sustainable value of buildings and spaces facilitates interactions between
communities. For example, proper site planning ensures that architects use resources
efficiently and at the same time, focus on environmental impacts and community needs, be it
building landscapes, housing, or community/public spaces like parks. For example,
community architects’ attempt at creating green-roof infrastructures in Australia helped
mitigate the urban heat island effect, highlighting the important role of architects in
improving the quality of life by considering environmental impacts through sustainable
practices for urban site planning and design (Lehmann 2014). As such, the amount of
collaboration observed by architects with those involved in site planning and development is
highly responsible for increasing the sustainability and aesthetic value of urban design.
An important aspect of an architect's role in achieving sustainability while developing
inner-cities is to focus on housing affordability. Affordability is one of the main reasons why
a major part of urban site planning and development relies on the perspective, knowledge,
and expertise of an architect. Evidence of this has been found in the study conducted by Buys
and Miller (2012), where inner high-urban density (IHUD) areas immensely benefit not only
from affordable housing but from the capabilities of an architect to consider residential needs
and factors that can improve the community or neighborhood's standard of living (Sharifi
2016). Inner high-urban density areas associate with complex factors that make urban site
planning, designing, and development quite a challenge for architects. Thus, the role of an
architect is to incorporate basic economic and social factors that can help understand the
satisfaction level of residents and focus on inner-city development plans that benefit the
society (Bragança, Vieira and Andrade 2014).
To assess social, environmental, and economic factors to improve sustainability and
residential satisfaction, architects are involved with the early stages of decision-making in

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urban site planning and designing. This necessitates the importance of an architect in urban
development further, as these professionals need to consider aspects of building and
construction such as costs of planning, impact of urban planning, costs and impacts of
construction, opportunities and risks that may affect the speculated impacts and costs of the
construction, and how feasible the impacts and costs would be for the residents or community
(Luansang, Boonmahathanakorn and Domingo-Price 2012). Additionally, to evaluate such
opportunities and risks, early-stage design decisions are the responsibility of an architect,
where the architect’s knowledge, expertise, and understanding of residential needs and
community spaces can help take correct decisions. Right from the conceptual phases of
planning and design till finalizing the tender, construction, and usage, architects do not just
play an important role but also collaborate with the other actors involved during inner-city
development plans (Talen 2010).
Having shed light on the way architects collaborate with others during urban site
planning in inner-city developments, they are also required to explore different collaboration
approaches and methods for the best results. Collecting and sharing information is a key
aspect of site planning, construction, and development, and which involves the inclusion of
qualitative and quantitative data basis which architects communicate with residents,
stakeholders and investors (Li, Ng and Skitmore 2013). Apart from the inclusion of the
government and stakeholders, architects also communicate and interact with the residents of
the community to explore greater opportunities and for a better valuation of impacts and costs
of a particular construction project. Exchange of information pertaining to geographies,
ecosystem facilities, legal compliances, residential needs, and more allow architects to deal
with the complexities involved with urban site development, especially for the inner-city.
Inner-city development and planning by assessing the level of stakeholder
involvement in urban projects help architect efficiently include considerations of
sustainability, affordability, and collaboration (Bal et al. 2013). There are a number of ways
in which architects evaluate the importance and involvement of stakeholders, which
eventually results in the success of a construction project. Inner-city developments are
impossible without the involvement of government authorities and stakeholders. In
accordance with their involvements, architects attempt to do their best in incorporating
sustainable practices to create better spaces and affordable homes for residents. As such,
assessing stakeholders’ involvements becomes a prime concern for any architect involved in
urban planning and development. According to Heravi, Coffey, and Trigunarsyah (2015),

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stakeholder involvement can be analysed by identifying key stakeholders, evaluating their
importance, assessing their needs, and outlining a strategy that considers both residential and
stakeholders’ requirements. Such analysis allows architects to improve the quality of their
designs and improve articulation on construction projects that can foster implementation,
success, and growth of an inner-city development plan.
Considering factors like housing affordability, sustainable development, increasing
quality of living, decisions pertaining to residential satisfaction, and the involvement of
stakeholders, one of the most valuable roles of an architect is to create a sense of belonging
through community and public spaces (Francis et al. 2012). Because architects and designers
are primarily involved with the creation of public spaces, it is safe to assume that architects
do contribute to the facilitation of social exchanges and interaction in the community and
between people, designers, and stakeholders. The careful consideration of social, economic,
and financial factors combined with sustainable approaches to create better and improved
spaces for communities puts architects in the best position to plan and decide public spaces
solely for social interactions. Open public spaces like parks, gardens, etc. form a crucial part
of inner-city development plans, and the contribution of an architect ensures that urban site
planning and development is practiced according to the psychological and physiological
needs of people along with reduced negative consequences to create better and healthier
communities (Abyzov 2017).
Conclusion
The essay has highlighted different ways in which architects are involved with urban
site planning and development through sustainable practices. Inner-city development plans
are implemented to improve the quality of living conditions as well as the aesthetic and social
value of construction projects. Such development requires the articulation of thoughts and
careful consideration of social and economic factors that allow architects to construct spaces
for the residents or community. Additionally, the level of stakeholder involvement is
ascertained by an architect in order to improve the quality and success rate of urban site
projects. Hence, the paper has explored various ways in which architects contribute to
promoting better and healthier public spaces through sustainability practices, and improve
collaboration and communication with residents, stakeholders, and the government.

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