Contemporary trends and theoretical tendencies of urban design (in the period from 2000 to 2022)

The lack of agreement among experts on the substantive and procedural approach of urban design on the one hand and the growing trend of theoretical studies in the direction of clarifying identical positions on the other hand, shows the necessity of examining contemporary theories in a multi-dimensional continuum. This research aims to verify what are the important contemporary areas of urban design, with the question of whether a kind of thematic alignment can be recognized in terms of theoretical concepts? 43 theoretical articles screened out of a total of 717 articles published in the period from 2000 to 2022 in the urban design magazine and identify 6 topics and 26 tendencies, including: goal with tendencies 1- human-community, 2- space-place, 3- geography- domain 4- Time, scope of intervention with trends 1- texture, 2- public realm, 3- physical levels and public and private areas, 4- infrastructures, 5- social interactions, users and space management, scale with trends 1- detail, 2- Personal building and block, 3- Neighborhood, 4- Urban spaces, region and city, 5- Infrastructure and structure, 6- Region, urban system, urban suburbs, and 7- The world, a product with trends 1- Rule - law, 2- modeling and 3-dimensional, 3- strategy and policy, and 4- program and report, process and method with trends 1- comprehensive and mass-oriented, 2- dynamic and permanent, and 3- mixed and decision-making with trends 1 - Scientific experts, 2- Politicians and capitalists, and 3- Public-private partnership and beneficiaries and influencers.