Abstract: The subject of research in this article is the concepts, directions and definitions of urban design that exist in different countries today. The novelty of the study is to identify their features and problems associated with the lack of a unified theoretical and methodological approach to urban design. The main trends of urban design, the principles of the formation of urban spaces are considered, categories and concepts of design reflecting the environmental values of the urban environment are proposed. An attempt is made to show that these contradictions can be solved by expanding the problem field of urban design by including environmental, anthropological and psychological issues to create innovative design projects. It is in the value attitudes that the differences of many concepts are most clearly manifested. The necessity of an integrated approach to the design of the urban environment is substantiated. For this purpose, a strategy of urban design is proposed, summarizing the key modern scientific and applied points of view in this area. It defines the connections, coincidences and complementarities between different conceptual approaches, the emphasis is on human-centered design and innovation. It is focused on modeling a virtually new synthetic environment with increased comfort indicators without compromising the natural environment. The relevance of this approach is due to the widespread opinion that it is impossible to achieve ecological balance within an urban settlement. The result of the study was the identification of the main themes and problems that urban design is able to solve at the present stage.