This guide distils the essential information required for the expert direction of the day-to-day work of urban design, from strategic design to masterplanning through to character assessment and collaboration.

Rob Cowan is the author of The Dictionary of Urbanism and director of the consultancy Urban Design Skills. He is editor of Context, the journal of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. He invented Placecheck, and was the joint author of By Design, the UK government's ground-breaking urban design guidance. He is a cartoonist and illustrator, and he presents the Plandemonium series of online videos.