The transnational building of urban design: interplay between genres of discourse in the Anglophone world

In the first half of the twentieth century, the field of urbanism was mainly structured around the constitution of the professional and academic discipline of planning. But in the second half of the twentieth century, it became organized in the English-speaking world around several complementary and competing poles as the emerging field of urban design. This field was a part of a profound renewal of architectural discourses and practices concerning the city that appeared around the world as a reaction to the growing autonomy of the planning sphere. However, it took a particular turn in the English-speaking world. Recently, readers establishing a common literature in the field have been published in three countries: USA, UK and Australia. A fragmented historiography of urban design has also emerged showing a field combining three different registers of discourse: the development of a criticism in the professional press, the building of a specific academic field, and the establishment of public policies. This article will attempt to analyse the birth and development of urban design as a network by crossing the three registers of discourse from three different countries.