THE ROLE OF DESIGN REVIEW IN AFFECTING THE QUALITY OF URBAN DESIGN - THE ARCHITECTS POINT-OF-VIEW

In the United States, design review is the process by which private de velopment proposals are presented for, and receive, independent, third -party public interest scrutiny. These design review processes range f rom citizen groups commenting on proposals in an ad hoc manner through project-specific, citizens' advisory committees; to more formalized p rocesses such as review by historic preservation commissions or city d esign review boards. Thus, design review encompasses many of the ways in which a public interest is taken into account and given some standi ng in the design process. The practice of design review has been growi ng throughout the country, but not without controversy. This paper rep orts on the results of a research project undertaken by the Design and Development Group at M.I.T in collaboration with the Boston Society o f Architects and the American Institute of Architects. The centerpiece of this project is a survey of Massachusetts architects assessing the ir views of the practice of design review. The survey measures the ext ent of architects' experiences with design review (extensive), the deg ree with which architects view design review favorably or unfavorably (overwhelmingly favorable), and the extent to which they agree or disa gree with the various claims that have been made concerning design rev iew. The paper summarizes a wide variety of analyses that have been co mpleted with the survey data.