From Design Advice to Peer Review: The Role of the Urban Design Panel in Vancouver

Abstract

There is growing international interest in using expert design panels to increase the level of expertise employed in the design review process. The Vancouver Urban Design Panel has operated since 1973 as a key component of the city's discretionary planning system, injecting cross-professional design advice into the city's complex, guideline-based permit processing system. In recent years the panel has transcended its advisory role to become essentially a peer review system where designers seek its unanimous approval. The keys to its successful operation lie in its early interventions into the design process, the quality of its critique, the independence of its advice, the transparency of its processes, the follow-through on its advice, and its ability to support design innovation and imagination.

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