Reframing Strategic Thinking in Urban Design through Urban Complex+: A Framework for Education and Practice

Abstract

This study proposes Urban Complex+ as a strategic design-thinking framework for structuring how designers interpret and respond to the increasing complexity of contemporary urban problems. The framework reconfigured existing urban design elements into a process-oriented, designer-centered system organized around four strategic axes: +Density, +Mobility, +Publicness, and +Flexibility. To examine its applicability, eight design proposals from the 2021 KDAA International Workshop were analyzed using qualitative coding and a comparative evaluation approach. The analysis focused on how strategic axes are selected, combined, and translated into spatial configurations through a sequence of problem recognition, strategic selection, and spatial implementation. The findings suggest that the Urban Complex+ operates as a cognitive framework that mediates urban problem interpretation and spatial design outcomes. This was evidenced by the divergence of design strategies across the eight studios, where different combinations of strategic axes led to distinct spatial configurations despite the shared site context. This study also demonstrates its potential as a pedagogical model supporting strategy-driven design learning and collaborative reasoning. Moreover, Urban Complex+ offers a transferable framework for integrating strategic thinking into urban design practices and education, with potential implications for future research in planning and policy contexts.