- Basics Landscape Architecture: Urban Design provides an overview of urban design from a landscape architecture perspective. Urban design is an interdisciplinary practice that is concerned with defining the form of human settlements. Landscape architecture plays an important role in this process. This title seeks to define and describe this role, highlighting the unique perspective that landscape architects bring to urban design. It provides a brief history and definition of urban design and the roles of the various professions involved. It looks at the elements of urban form and the importance of contextual details, from the scale of the city and its region to the importance of materials.