Since the 1990s the regional scale has regained importance in urban and landscape design. In parallel, the focus in design tasks has shifted from master plans for urban extension to strategic urban transformation projects. The current paradigm of planning by projects reinforces the role of the design disciplines within the development of our urban landscapes. At the same time, urban and landscape designers are confronted with new methodological problems. Within a strategic transformation perspective the formulation of the design problem or brief becomes an integrated part of the design process. This paper discusses new design (education) methods based on a relational concept of urban sites and design processes using the actor-network-theory as theoretical frame.