Bridging education and practice: Evaluating a design coding collaboration between Manchester Urban Design Lab and Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

This paper evaluates a collaboration between Manchester Urban Design Lab (MUD-Lab at the University of Manchester) and Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, through which 30 masters students participated in a design coding project alongside their degree. Stockport MBC is one of the 12 local authorities funded by the UK Government’s Design Code Pathfinder to develop an authority-wide design code in line with the National Model Design Code. Through MUD-Lab’s role as a project consultant, urban design students – supported by staff - contributed to the development of Stockport’s design code. Working in two area-based teams, students conducted site analysis and developed an urban design programme with objectives and interventions, presented as a published document which will inform the final design code and assist planning decisions more broadly. This paper evaluates the process and immediate impact of the project, asking the overall research question: how has the design coding collaboration between MUD-Lab and Stockport MBC delivered social value for each stakeholder? It draws on focus groups and interviews with students and professionals who participated in the project, supported by documents and design work produced during it. The paper provides valuable evidence of how collaboration between universities, local authorities, and design consultants can benefit both design education and practice, particularly from students’ perspective. It highlights barriers to coordinating such projects within tight timescales, but demonstrates rich potential for skills and capacity development across participants and organisations, as well as wider opportunities for supporting local implementation of the National Model Design Code.