The Urban Design Division concentrates on the public realm by promoting principles of design excellence that create unique, context-sensitive neighborhoods, towns and corridor cities. Urban design considers the arrangement and design of streets, public spaces and buildings to create distinct character and a great sense of place.
The urban design team of architects, landscape architects and planners establishes guidelines for each planning area. Blending architecture, landscape architecture, and environmental stewardship, good urban design results in areas that are both functional and attractive. Urban designers work on these elements to create urban design guidelines:

The guidelines will be updated to reflect the approved and adopted Germantown Sector Plan.
Planners are crafting a new strategy to add more green space and public gathering places to downtown Silver Spring. The guidelines will identify potential sites that could provide large green public spaces and specify design guidelines for how to develop them.
Visit The Straight Line, a design blog that delivers our take on the buildings, streets and spaces that make up where we live, work and play. Staff’s commentary starts the conversation, but we want to hear from you. Check back often and set us straight.
For private development, the urban designers review projects for conformance with the established master plans to foster design excellence. Urban designers analyze function, design, circulation and other aspects of projects and provide recommendations to the Planning Board, and to the applicable federal, state and local agencies.
Government agencies planning construction projects – such as libraries, schools, transit centers and federal facilities – must refer their plans to the Montgomery County Planning Board for Mandatory Referral review. The reviews are either administrative for small projects that do not create significant impact in surrounding areas or a full Planning Board review when a construction project is large in scale and may create significant impacts.
Learn more about the Webb Tract mandatory referral project.
Urban designers work closely with the planning teams to create master plans for specific areas. They provide recommendations for the design of streets, open space and buildings and produce a range of maps, diagrams and perspectives to assist the planning teams, the Planning Board and the County Council. Often, urban designers help bring alive the design recommendations in master plans.
Urban designers also work on specific projects to foster design excellence, such as a new headquarters building for M-NCPPC - Montgomery County, an expansion for Montgomery College in Silver Spring, and a proposed housing development in Silver Spring. In addition, the urban designers prepare three-dimensional computer models that illustrate future projects in Montgomery County. These models provide an important visual tool for policy-makers.
See our visions for (coming soon):
John Carter, Urban Design Chief
John.Carter@mncppc-mc.org
301-495-4575
Date of last update: October 8, 2009