Sweco’s experts design places that work for people AND the planet. Our urban design teams bring together insight from planning, transport, infrastructure and environmental advisory to shape connected, resilient, healthy places.
We believe that successful urban design is built on collaboration and integration. By aligning land use, mobility, sustainability and creative, culturally sensitive placemaking, we help create urban environments that are not only functional, but vibrant and adaptable to future needs.
Whether you’re regenerating an existing neighbourhood or planning new growth, Sweco helps unlock the full potential of your project. We combine long-term vision with practical delivery—balancing social, environmental and economic outcomes to create places that stand the test of time.
All the place-based consultancy you need…in one place
Our integrated urban design services help shape thriving, resilient, and connected communities. From high-level strategy to detailed design, we offer:
Strategic Planning & Masterplanning
We deliver visionary yet practical frameworks for land use, transport, and infrastructure – aligning urban growth with long-term community and economic goals. Our expertise includes masterplanning, infrastructure coordination, and environmental impact assessments.
Environmental & Sustainability Services
We put carbon reduction at the centre of our decision-making throughout the entire project lifecycle, future-proofing developments with climate adaptation planning, air quality consultancy, green infrastructure design, circular economy strategies and sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) combining to enhance environmental stewardship.
Design & Development
We create vibrant, inclusive places through landscape architecture, human-centered urban design, active transport networks, public space enhancements, and regeneration strategies that revitalise neighborhoods.
Transport Planning
We enable mobility solutions that reduce emissions and increase access – integrating public transport, cycling and pedestrian networks, smart mobility, and transport policy frameworks.
Project Management
We guide complex projects from vision to delivery with proven processes for planning, risk mitigation, stakeholder engagement, and quality control – ensuring outcomes that meet expectations and budget.
Our core urban design services
Urban planning and design consultancy
Business cases to support funding bids (inc. economic and social appraisal)
Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA)
Health Impact Assessments (HIA)
Equality Impact Assessments (EqIA)
Air quality consultancy
Ground engineering
Land value assessments
Sustainable transport planning
Transport modelling and analysis
Active travel infrastructure (walking, cycling, route design)
Placemaking was first championed in the 1960s by urban writer and activist Jane Jacobs, alongside socialist and urbanist William H. Whyte. Together, they advocated for a place-based, community-centered approach to urban planning – one that prioritises human scale, local character and social interaction. Since then, placemaking has evolved into a multi-disciplinary, holistic ‘ethos’ encompassing the planning, design and management of public realm spaces.
Renowned social scientist Marc Augé distinguished place from non-place, defining a place as “a space around which an identity is built, which has a history, which forms part of a collective imaginary, and which belongs to a spatial and cultural context.” In this sense, ‘turning a space into a place’ involves a collaborative design process with emotions and connections at its heart.
The Project for Public Spaces (PPS) further defines placemaking as a method that “invites people to collectively reimagine and reinvent urban spaces as the heart of every community to maximise shared value. It facilitates creative patterns of use, considering the physical, cultural, and social identities of a place, as well as the needs of different users.”
Bradford Regeneration: A holistic urban design transformation
Sweco’s work on the Bradford Regeneration project exemplifies the power of integrated urban design. By combining strategic masterplanning, sustainable transport solutions, environmental enhancement, and community-focused placemaking, we helped transform Bradford’s city centre into a vibrant, accessible, and resilient place. This multi-disciplinary approach ensures economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability work hand-in-hand to shape a thriving urban future.
Etive Park, Glasgow | Feasibility study and options development for residential green space. Proposed interventions focus: SuDS, active travel, accessibility, facilities for young people.
Harling Drive Cycle Route | Cycleway link design and implementation to encourage active travel centred on placemaking and retrofitted rain gardens. Find out more.
Bradford | City centre transformation with a focus on traffic reduction, improved street layout, enhancement of key views, placemaking, sustainable drainage and biodiversity.
Glasgow | Lead Consultant for the Clyde Waterfront and Renfrew Riverside: routes & structures, active travel, environmental, landscape architecture and stakeholder engagement.
Ayr | Integrated impact assessments for enhanced urban realm and active mode connectivity, to support Accessible Ayr’s town centre investment public consultations.
Thornaby & Stockton | connecting vibrant community spaces through active travel infrastructure, as part of ambitious town centre & waterfront regeneration.
Edinburgh | Transport planning and civil and structural engineering from initial concept and planning stages to full technical approval process and construction phase.
Cuningar Loop Woodland Park – Phase 2 | An urban park opening up public access along the River Clyde and creating spaces for education and art. Find out more.
Bridlington Town Centre Seafront | Town centre revitalisation through the design and implementation of a bold public realm and wayfinding scheme. Find out more.
Regenerative urban design
As we reshape our cities for the future, the concept of regenerative urban design takes placemaking a step further – by enabling urban areas not just to do less harm, but to actively restore and enhance the natural and social environments they exist within. Traditional development often replaces ecosystems with grey infrastructure, contributing to biodiversity loss, urban heat stress, and flooding. Regenerative design reframes this challenge, integrating green-blue infrastructure like parks, wetlands, and green roofs to allow cities to perform more like natural ecosystems.
A truly regenerative neighbourhood balances ecological systems with human needs – planning for both people AND planet. This approach prioritises health & wellbeing, equity, and resilience by embedding nature into the urban fabric while engaging communities in the design process. Circular economy principles, inclusive governance, and cultural identity are seen not as add-ons but as core components that ensure long-term viability and public support.
Every city has the potential to connect communities to nature. It is all too easy to forget about the natural world if we are not exposed to it as part of our daily lives; and we are learning the hard way that if we do not seek to protect and restore global biodiversity, then the quality of human life as we know it will dramatically reduce.
For this reason it is essential that urban spaces incorporate functional, nature-positive, green-blue infrastructure that can support the needs of people and the urban wildlife that relies on these habitats to survive, and thrive. By understanding the value of incorporating nature into our cities, we can transform them into resilient places that prioritise equity and sustainability, and pave the way for future generations to thrive alongside nature.
As the world accelerates towards decarbonisation, the concept of place plays a critical yet often overlooked role in delivering a just and effective green transition. Placemaking is not simply about aesthetics or design—it’s an evolutionary and collaborative process that shapes or regenerates urban environments to maximise shared value for people, communities and the planet.
At its core, place is more than a physical location. It’s a space imbued with identity, memory and meaning. As Marc Augé described, it is “a space around which an identity is built, which has a history, which forms part of a collective imaginary.” In this context, urban design becomes a vehicle for shaping environments that are not only functional and efficient, but also inclusive, resilient and deeply rooted in cultural and social fabric.
By balancing community needs, environmental priorities and long-term economic viability, placemaking bridges the gap between climate ambition and lived experience. From Jane Jacobs to William H. Whyte, the call for human-scaled, socially vibrant cities has only grown louder in the face of climate change. Today, successful urban design must support low-carbon living, promote biodiversity, enable active travel and foster social cohesion – all grounded in a strong sense of place.
Together with our clients and the collective knowledge of our engineers, consultants and other specialists, we co-create solutions to address urbanisation, capture the power of digitalisation, and make our societies more sustainable. With international multi-disciplinary teams, we can call on the right insight and technical capability at the right time from across Buildings, Infrastructure, Advisory & Planning and Compliance.
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