Good quality design in Devon—the highway engineer's contribution

Following his election as the current President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Mark Whitby focused on the role of engineers in today's society and in particular the contributions which engineers are making towards improving the quality of life in urban areas. He claimed that today's engineers can play a part in this process, the significance of which will be comparable with the achievements of their Victorian counterparts. This paper examines the contribution of Devon County Council's engineers and their colleagues in the related environmental professions to the process of improving the quality of life for their communities. It explains the background to the county council's roles and strategic objectives, its role as County Highway Authority for Devon, and the ways in which the authority's professionals are developing the principles and practices of good urban design to help secure this aim. The final section features a number of recent schemes which illustrate the points made in the main body of the text.