The Urban Design Toolkit

Dr Philip Black is Director of the Manchester Urban Design LAB (MUD-Lab) and Senior Lecturer in Urban Design and Head of Urban Design Programmes at the University of Manchester. He is the lead author of The Urban Design Process (Lund Humphries, 2019) and Applied Urban Design: A Contextually Responsive Approach (Routledge, 2025). Philip has an extensive track record of research and publications on applied urban design with a particular focus on design quality, design governance, and urban design process/professional practice.

Rachel Kerr is a lecturer in Urban Design at the University of Manchester and chartered member of the RTPI, with over ten years' experience working in urban design practice. She has worked at consultancies AECOM and WYG and most recently as Associate in the Urban Design team at Tetra Tech, before joining the University of Manchester. Rachel teaches studio-based units focusing on practical design skills, and leads the coordination of projects across academia and professional practice in her role as Outreach Coordinator for the MUD-Lab.

Dr Taki Sonbli is Manager of the Manchester Urban Design LAB, and the Technical Lead Specialist for all urban design programmes at University of Manchester. Taki is co-author of The Urban Design Process (Lund Humphries, 2019) and Applied Urban Design: A Contextually Responsive Approach (Routledge, 2025), he has also published in the areas of culturally sensitive urban design, and the graphical language of urban space.