Urban Design Between Artefact and Process. An open disciplinary reflection, seventy years after the Harvard Urban Design Conference (1956-2026). [Reflection Node #1 | Research Notebook Series, No. 04]

This reflection departs from the methodological tone of the Research Notebook Series to articulate a situated disciplinary position within architecture and urban design. Seventy years after the Harvard Urban Design Conference (1956), it returns to a recurring question: what counts as urban design competence? Through this reflection, two enduring orientations within the discipline come into view—urban design as artefact production and as relational practice—framing process as a medium of design. Urban design emerges as a plural discipline that operates through the interplay of artefacts and processes, engaging socio-spatial complexity through their relation. Competence takes shape through the capacity to work across these dimensions, shaping spatial outcomes through both form and the organisation of relations. This work is part of the Research Notebook Series (n.4), a structured and evolving body of research in architecture and urban design.