A good design project should be defined more by functionality than by its aesthetics. At the end of the day, a taste for architecture is totally personal, and that cannot be contested. However, there are some tips on how to start the process of brainstorming a concept, in this case, for instance, a medium-sized scaled urban project.
6. When you have a concrete pre-analysis of the plot it allows you to have arguments that defend the concept of your design. Aesthetics do count as an overall, and it will come out naturally during the development of the project, they will complement its structure.
A good design can be interpreted and judged in many different ways, it is a combo between structure, function, and aesthetics. However, a good approach would be how and when to prioritize each one of them, 1. a smart structure, 2. a clear functionality, and, at last but not the least, 3. a matching aesthetics.