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The City of Tomorrow from… the Data of Today
Abstract
In urban planning, a common unit of measure for housing density is the number of households per hectare. However, the actual size of the physical space occupied by a household, i.e., a dwelling, is seldom considered, neither in 2D nor in 3D. This article proposes a methodology to estimate the average size of a dwelling in existing urban areas from available open data, and to use it as one of the design parameters for new urban-development projects. The proposed unit of measure, called “living space”, includes outdoor and indoor spaces. The idea is to quantitatively analyze the city of today to help design the city of tomorrow. First, the “typical”-dwelling size and a series of Key Performance Indicators are computed for all neighborhoods from a semantic 3D city model and other spatial and non-spatial datasets. A limited number of neighborhoods is selected based on their similarities with the envisioned development plan. The size of the living space of the selected neighborhoods is successively used as a design parameter to support the computer-assisted generation of several design proposals. Each proposal can be exported, shared, and visualized online. As a test case, a to-be-planned neighborhood in Amsterdam, called “Sloterdijk One”, has been chosen.
... It enables the analysis and optimization of a volumetric urban design also including human perception. The CUD tool has been developed starting from a set of already existing tools, originally developed at TU Delft and here simply called TUD-CUD for the sake of simplicity (García González, 2019; Agugiaro et al., 2020;Doan, 2021). The core of the tool is developed using Grasshopper for Rhinoceros and allows to integrate, via several interfaces, static GIS data. ...
... On the right, the Grasshopper window with information panels and data nodes. [Image source:Agugiaro et al., 2020] van Veghel et al. Computational Urban Science (2024 ...
... They are added here only for visualization purposes. [Image source:Agugiaro et al., 2020] ...
Urban areas face increasing pressure due to densification, presenting numerous challenges involving various stakeholders. The impact of densification on human well-being in existing urban areas can be both positive and negative, which requires a comprehensive understanding of its consequences. Computational Urban Design (CUD) emerges as a valuable tool in this context, offering rapid generation and evaluation of design solutions, although it currently lacks consideration for human perception in urban areas. This research addresses the challenge of incorporating human perception into computational urban design in the context of urban densification, and therefore demonstrates a complete process. Using Place Pulse 2.0 data and multinomial logit models, the study first quantifies the relationship between volumetric built elements and human perception (beauty, liveliness, and safety). The findings are then integrated into a Grasshopper-based CUD tool, enabling the optimization of parametric designs based on human perception criteria. The results show the potential of this approach. Finally, future research and development ideas are suggested based on the experiences and insights derived from this study.
... While in this case, the current scenario features eight car driving lanes, some of these lanes are planned to be substituted with bike lanes and pedestrian areas. Detailed virtual models of real-world entities can serve as a foundation for urban planners or decisionmakers to determine long-term goals regarding urban planning [27][28][29]. High positional accuracy of these objects with precise (georeferenced) coordinates is necessary to ensure accurate assessments. Ross [30] states that information related to land management can be integrated into virtual city models. ...
In addition to geometric accuracy, topological information, appearance and georeferenced data, semantic capabilities are key strengths of digital 3D city models. This provides the foundation for a growing number of use cases, far beyond visualization. While these use cases mostly focused on models of buildings or the terrain so far, the increasing availability of data on roads and other transportation infrastructure opened up a range of emerging use cases in the field of semantic 3D streetspace models. While there are already a number of implemented examples, there is also a potential for new use cases not yet established in the field of 3D city modeling, which benefit from detailed representations of roads and their environment. To ensure clarity in our discussions, we introduce an unambiguous distinction between the terms `application domain’, `use case’, `functionality’ and `software application’. Based on these definitions, use cases are categorized according to their primary application domain and discussed with respect to relevant literature and required functionalities. Furthermore, requirements of functionalities towards semantic 3D streetspace models are determined and evaluated in detail with regard to geometric, semantic, topological, temporal and visual aspects. This article aims to give an overview on use cases in the context of semantic 3D streetspace models and to present requirements of respective functionalities, in order to provide insight for researchers, municipalities, companies, data providers, mapping agencies and other stakeholders interested in creating and using a digital twin of the streetspace.
... With the current high speed and scale of urbanisation, there is a growing demand for affordable housingtogether with all other aspects that are tightly related to it: infrastructure for transportation, utility networks, etc. For this reason, integrated planning is increasingly playing a crucial role as the impacts of a new construction project should be investigated, evaluated and minimised from the very early stages of the design process (Josuf et al., 2017;Agugiaro et al., 2020). However, there still exists a "scale-dependent" dichotomy between the different disciplines involved in the different types of analyses (Ohori et al., 2017;Noardo et al., 2019). ...
This paper describes the proposed methodology, the implementation, and the experience resulting from the further development of a tool, embedded in Rhinoceros/Grasshopper, that allows to perform preliminary environmental analyses at district scale in the case of a new planned building. The CAD-based parametric 3D model of a “new” building, generated in Grasshopper, is enriched with and embedded into a 3D urban scene of the block/district where it is planned to be built. The resulting 3D scene is then used to perform shadowing, solar and wind analyses that are used by architects and engineers in their preliminary development phases of the project. The work stems from a preliminary analysis in terms of data and software requirements carried out between practitioners from both the GIS and AEC domain.More in detail, a series of modules in Grasshopper have been developed that allow to import GIS “surrounding” data at district scale (e.g. buildings, terrain) and to blend them with the “new” building model, in order to perform environmental analyses in (near) real time while the designer interactively changes the design parameters of the building and its position. The paper presents the results and discusses the inherent limitations.
... The themes of Big Data, Internet of Things and 'smart city' (Ofenhuber & Ratti, 2014;Dustdar et al., 2017;Allam & Dunny, 2019;Brusaporci, 2020) converge in a research challenge that aims to systematise these complex structures through visual interactive models. With regard to the possibility of expressing the 'city of tomorrow' (Ratti & Claudel, 2016), urban models bring the knowledge-based dimension into a 'virtual physicality' (Agugiaro et al., 2020). ...
The relationship between education and urban environments identifies a process of societal impact through levels of exploration and knowledge of the territorial system. It emerges from pedagogical levels linked to the development of spatial knowledge as "vision" and "motricity," finalising education on the use and management of territory and urban space in classes of knowledge. In parallel, the increasing adoption of digital technologies has extended the contamination of digital twins to the existing instruments for territorial management, such as geographic information systems. Their features of representation have increased, and the resulting systems can focus on the opportunity to use virtual territories (cities and landscapes in digital form) as both objects and spaces of education. The chapter focuses on "territo-rial education" to highlight the potentialities of urban infosystems from advancements in digitisation practices, and their interaction with artificial intelligence to support the educational function of digital urban spaces in experience-based and situated learnings.
... Due to these advantages, major points of discussion in applications of CityGML models for Cultural Heritage and systemic historic urban architectures or urban districts can be summarized as follows: Decodification of urban entities (G Agugiaro, 2016;Cecchini, 2019) or historic buildings and components of fabrics (Gkadolou et al., 2020) according to specific ontologies. Management of the built environment for the identification of sustainable and/or compatible refurbishment solutions, at the scale of the district, considering historical parts (Bonfanti et al., 2021;Prieto, Luis Izkara, & Béjar, 2017;Suwardhi et al., 2022) and new urban areas (Giorgio Agugiaro, González, & Cavallo, 2020;Mohd Nasir, Azri, & Ujang, 2022;Nasir, Azri, Ujang, & Majid, 2020;Pasquinelli, Agugiaro, Tagliabue, Scaioni, & Guzzetti, 2019). Managing urban areas according to specific risks or issues (Egusquiza, Prieto, Izkara, & Béjar, 2018;Kilsedar, Fissore, Pirotti, & Brovelli, 2019). ...
The study presents the characterization of the built environment in historic districts according to the CityGML standard, properly prepared for their management in recovery plans. Knowledge, conservation, and management of such urban areas require a detailed data collection phase and a multi-scale representation technique to describe all the geometric and thematic aspects. To this end, the work identifies the system of simple and complex parameters, namely descriptors and factors, analysing theoretical notions, regulations, and previous scientific studies and experiences, mainly focused on the Italian case. Descriptors and factors are categorized along with the thematic relations with urban and building elements and components, through a well-defined logical-relational scheme and consistently related to the CityGML standard. Finally, the system of descriptors and factors has been applied and validated to the ancient core of Carovigno, in Apulia Region (Italy).
This paper introduces a new plug-in for QGIS that allows to connect to the free and open-source 3D City Database to load CityGML data, structured as classic GIS layers, into QGIS. The user is therefore not required to be a CityGML specialist, or a SQL expert, as the plug-in takes care of hiding from the user most of the complexity in terms of underlying data model and database schema implementation. The user can therefore load CityGML thematic “layers” (e.g. for buildings, bridges, vegetation, terrain, etc.), explore their geometries in 2D and 3D and access and edit the associated attributes. At the same time, depending on the user privileges, it is possible to delete features from the database using either normal QGIS editing tools, or a “bulk delete” tool, also included. The plug-in is composed of two parts, a server-side one, which must be installed in the 3D City Database instance, and the client-side one, which runs as a QGIS plug-in in strict sense. A GUI-based tool is also provided for database administrators in order to install/uninstall the database-side part of the plug-in, and manage users and their privileges. All in all, the 3DCityDB-Tools plug-in facilitates the access to CityGML data for GIS practitioners from heterogeneous fields and expertise with the common denominator being the well-known QGIS environment.
Nowadays, our society is in the transit to adopt more sustainable energy sources to reduce our impact on the environment; one alternative is solar energy. However, this is highly affected by the surroundings, which might cause shadowing effects. In this paper, we present our method to perform shadowing calculations in urban areas using semantic 3D city models, which is split into five sections: Point Grid Generation, Sun-Ray Generation, Nightside Filtering, Bounding Volume Hierarchy and the intersection between the sun rays and the BVH to identify which locations are shadowed at a given moment (epoch). Our tests are performed in Rotterdam’s city center, a dense urban area in The Netherlands. Our initial results indicate that the computational time per 100 k grid points fluctuates within 0.2–0.7s.
Parametric design involves algorithmically defining relationships between parameters to facilitate the generation and exploration of abundantly diverse solutions. This approach yields complex forms and distinctive details, offering a unique visual character. However, it also presents certain limitations, including extended design and construction timelines, increased costs due to customized components, and limited tolerance for errors in workmanship. The public perceives parametric design as means to develop building morphology characterized by curvilinearity, continuity, and gradual transformation. While it initially gained recognition for creating intricate non-orthogonal forms, the true potential of parametric design lies in its ability to holistically enhance building performance. This chapter explores the initial association of parametric design as a form generation tool, and the notable shift in focus to function and efficiency in recent years. A shift that was facilitated by advancements in technology, which enabled harnessing the full potential of parametric design.
Durch den Fortschritt auf dem Gebiet der Pflanzengenomik hat sich die Phänotypisierung von Pflanzen im Freiland zu einem neuen Engpass in der Pflanzenzüchtung entwickelt. Es besteht ein steigender Bedarf an objektiver, präziser und zeitlich hochaufgelöster Charakterisierung eines sich entwickelnden Pflanzenbestandes. Die zerstörungsfreie und sensorgestützte Hochdurchsatz Phänotypisierung mittels Drohnen hat das Potential diese Lücke zu bedienen. In dieser Studie wird die Eignung zweier Sensorsysteme (Rot-Grün-Blau (RGB) Kamera und Multispektralkamera) unter der Verwendung unterschiedlicher Modellansätze zur Ertragsvorhersage einer Gerstenpopulation geprüft. Die an unbemannten Luftfahrzeugsystemen (UAVs) montierte Sensorik wurde wöchentlich zur Datenerfassung an 3 Standorten in Mitteldeutschland genutzt. Zusätzlich zu Vegetationsindizes wurden auch morphologische Merkmale wie Bestandshöhe, Bedeckungsgrad und Parameter der Wachstumsdynamik für die Ertragsvorhersage verwendet und mit Referenzwerten aus bodengestützten Phänotypisierungen verglichen. Die Präzision der Ertragsvorhersage beider Sensorsysteme lag auf dem gleichen Niveau und erreichte eine maximale Vorhersagegenauigkeit von r 2 = 0,82 mit einer kontinuierlichen Zunahme der Genauigkeit über die gesamte Vegetationsperiode.
The use of BIM, GIS, and digital twins enable buildings to be more energy-efficient consumption. The study examines the energy usage of types of urban Super-blocks using a simplified real-world simulation. This research proposes a novel method for combining two-dimensional GIS data with a three-dimensional BIM model. Rather than improving the urban arrangement, this study compares the sorts of urban blocks and energy. We modeled, evaluated, and researched several Archetypes of blocks: electrical, fossil, and energetic. In conclusion, optimization techniques can be applied in comparison approaches. While optimization approaches take a lot of time and energy, the archetypal assessment takes far less. Finally, the results show considerable energy savings of up to 20% in urban structures compared to the ASHRAE standard model. Note: The following files were submitted by the author for peer review, but cannot be converted to PDF. You must view these files (e.g. movies) online. Figs.rar URL: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/tadjournal Technology | Architecture + Design F o r P e e r R e v i e w O n l y Abstract The integration of BIM and GIS and the suggested notion of digital twins enabled buildings to be energy efficient in terms of consumption and generation. The study employs a real-world simulation with a low level of detail to examine several types of urban Super-blocks and their energy use. This research presents a unique approach for integrating urban information based on two-dimensional GIS data and a three-dimensional BIM model. The research approach used in this study is a comparison of the types of urban blocks and energy, which is considered for early energy studies instead of optimizing the urban configuration. Several Archetypes of blocks were modeled, analyzed, and then studied on three levels: electrical energy, fossil fuel, and energy. The study's conclusion implies that optimization techniques can be used in the comparative approach. While studying these various methods consumes a significant amount of time and energy, archetype evaluation consumes far less. Finally, the results reveal significant reductions in energy use in urban buildings of up to 20% compared to the ASHRAE standard model with a modest degree of detail. The results of this research may be used in the early stages of urban design in terms of super-block pattern selection.
The cities in which we live are constantly evolving. The active management of this evolution is referred to as urban planning. The according development process could go in many directions resulting in a large number of potential future scenarios of a city. The planning support system URBio adopts interactive optimization to assist urban planners in generating and exploring those various scenarios. As a computer-based system it needs to be able to efficiently handle all underlying data of this exploration process, which includes both methodology-specific and context-specific information. This article describes the work carried out to link URBio with a semantic city model. Therefore, two key requirements were identified and implemented: (a) the extension of the CityGML data model to cope with many scenarios by the proposition of the Scenario Application Domain Extension (ADE) and (b) the definition of a data model for interactive optimization. Classes and features of the developed data models are motivated, depicted and explained. Their usability is demonstrated by walking through a typical workflow of URBio and laying out the induced data flows. The article is concluded with stating further potential applications of both the Scenario ADE and the data model for interactive optimization.
In this paper we present an open and flexible approach for the standardisation of 3D geographical data, describing our physical environment in such a way that it can serve different applications. The aim of our approach is to keep the standard as simple as possible so that implementation in different software is straightforward and the reuse of once collected 3D data in different domains is optimally supported. Therefore, we propose to model the semantics of real-world objects independent from their application and we distinguish between the conceptual model and encoding. The result is a 3-layer approach, in which the first layer contains the conceptual model: the object types with their definitions and properties. This layer reuses definitions of various existing models (national and international) as much as possible. The second layer contains the modelling constraints: the set of rules that define how the objects from the conceptual model are represented in 3D as needed for a specific context or application. This second layer contains additional (3D) requirements to standardise the 3D representations of the objects. The third layer contains encoding profiles, thus specifying how different formats can best be encoded; these formats could be JSON or XML/GML.In this paper we motivate and describe our approach. For a small area we have developed a prototype that implements the 3 different layers. The prototype shows how the approach can be implemented for one specific application and additionally it provides insight into further development.
The analysis of urban viability consists of a study about the potential of implementation of a construction being carried out in the preliminary design phase and with the objective of ensuring the best use of the land. The analysis is based on the selection of the possible land and the review of the urbanistic laws that determine the legal parameters for the study of the implantation and the volume of the enterprise on the selected land. Therefore, it aims to use Building Information Modeling (BIM) as a tool to automate the process of feasibility analysis of legal parameters, such as the verification of land use and occupation law. Thereby, a volumetric model of the building in BIM will be built, followed by the modeling of the chosen land and finally, the normative and legal parameters will be assigned through the graphical programming tool, using Dynamo, a programming software to automate work on Revit. The project will be deployed to each selected land with its respective parameters. Lastly the result of each analysis will be compared in order to obtain the best benefit in relation to land and enterprise. greater agility and accuracy in the technical feasibility analysis of the project is expected to be achieved by reducing rework, inaccuracy, errors and time. Therewith greater agility and accuracy in the technical feasibility analysis of the project is expected to be achieved by reducing rework, inaccuracy, errors and time.
The development of the next major version 3.0 of the international OGC standard CityGML is nearing its end. CityGML 3.0 will come up with a variety of new features and revisions of existing modules that will increase the usability of CityGML for more user groups and areas of application. This includes a new space concept, a revised level-of-detail (LOD) concept, the representation of time-dependent properties, the possibility to manage multiple versions of cities, the representation of city objects by point clouds, an improved modelling of constructions, the representation of building units and storeys, an improved representation of traffic infrastructure as well as a clear separation of the conceptual model and the data encodings that allow for providing further encoding specifications besides GML. This paper gives an overview of these new and revised concepts, and illustrates their application through selected use cases.
A bottom-up building energy modelling at the urban scale based on Geographic Information System and semantic 3D city models can provide quantitative insights to tackle critical urban energy challenges. Nevertheless, incomplete information is a common obstacle to produce reliable modelling results. The residential building heating demand simulation performance gap caused by input uncertainties is discussed in this study. We present a data-driven urban scale energy modelling framework from open-source data harmonization, sensitivity analysis, heating demand simulation at the postcode level to Bayesian calibration with six years of training data and two years of validation data. Comparing the baseline and the calibrated simulation results, the averaged absolute percentage errors of energy use intensity in the study area have significantly improved from 25.0% to 8.3% and from 19.9% to 7.7% in two validation years, while CVRMSE2016=11.5% and CVRMSE2017=13.2%. The overall methodology is extendable to other urban contexts.
The 3D representation of buildings with roof shapes (also called LoD2) is popular in the 3D city modelling domain since it provides a realistic view of 3D city models. However, for many application block models of buildings are sufficient or even more suitable. These so called LoD1 models can be reconstructed relatively easily from building footprints and point clouds. But LoD1 representations for the same building can be rather different because of differences in height references used to reconstruct the block models and differences in underlying statistical calculation methods. Users are often not aware of these differences, while these differences may have an impact on the outcome of spatial analyses. To standardise possible variances of LoD1 models and let the users choose the best one for their application, we have developed a LoD1 reconstruction service that generates several heights per building (both for the ground surface and the extrusion height). The building models are generated for all ~10 million buildings in The Netherlands based on footprints of buildings and LiDAR point clouds. The 3D dataset is updated every month automatically. In addition, for each building quality parameters are calculated and made available. This article describes the development of the LoD1 building service and we report on the spatial analysis that we performed on the generated height values.
The construction industry is a project-based sector with a myriad of actors such as architects, construction companies, consultants, producers of building materials (Anumba et al., 2005). The interaction between the project partners is often quite limited, which leads to insufficient knowledge sharing during the project and knowledge being unavailable for reuse (Fruchter et al. 2002). The result can be a considerable amount of extra work, delays and cost overruns. Design outcomes that are supposed to function as boundary objects across different disciplines can lead to misinterpretation of requirements, project content and objectives. In this research, knowledge is seen as resulting from social interactions; knowledge resides in communities and it is generated through social relationships (Wenger 1998, Olsson et al. 2008). Knowledge is often tacit, intangible and context-dependent and it is articulated in the changing responsibilities, roles, attitudes and values that are present in the work environment (Bresnen et al., 2003). In a project environment, knowledge enables individuals to solve problems, take decisions, and apply these decisions to actions. In order to achieve a shared understanding and minimize the misunderstanding and misinterpretations among project actors, it is necessary to share knowledge (Fong 2003).
Sharing knowledge is particularly crucial in large complex building projects (LCBPs) in order to accelerate the building process, improve architectural quality and prevent mistakes or undesirable results. However, knowledge sharing is often hampered through professional or organizational boundaries or contractual concerns. When knowledge is seen as an organizational asset, there is little willingness among project organizations to share their knowledge. Individual people may recognize the need to promote knowledge sharing throughout the project, but typically there is no deliberate strategy agreed by all project partners to address knowledge sharing.
In the literature, two main approaches on knowledge sharing can be distinguished, an object or content -oriented perspective and a community-oriented perspective. In the object perspective, technology is seen as a medium to store and share knowledge. The limitations of this perspective are that social processes and tacit knowledge are not adequately supported and there has generally been a slow adoption of such technology in design practices. The community perspective prevents these problems by allowing for the natural and informal formation of communities, however, communities can become largely independent and unconnected, which makes it more difficult to entice them towards a certain strategic direction. Since both approaches have their limitations, this thesis proposes a holistic framework for knowledge sharing in LCBPs drawing on concepts by Mintzberg (1973) and Activity Theory. Mintzberg’s concepts are used to discuss the type of implementation (top-down, bottom-up), and the origin of the strategies (deliberate/emergent/(un)realized). For analysing the content and effect of each strategy, concepts from Activity Theory (tools, subject, object, rules, community, and division of labour) are used. The proposed model, the Knowledge Diamond, consists of four dimensions for analysing and designing knowledge sharing strategies for LCBPs.
Three of these were inspired by Activity Theory, namely tools, procedures, and social practices, while a fourth emerged as a crucial dimension in this thesis: physical settings. This framework was used to examine knowledge sharing strategies in a comparative analysis of two large complex building projects. Based on rich data from observations, documents and interview, the origins, the development and the effect of both forms of knowledge sharing environments are investigated. The first part of the analysis sheds new light on the possibilities of knowledge sharing in large complex building project. The unique, temporary, and complex nature of such projects has often been reported as a potential barrier to investing knowledge sharing. However, this analysis highlighted that the while the location is unique, the underlying challenges are typically not, and although projects are per definition temporary, these large, complex projects often last for a decade. Investing in knowledge sharing is therefore possible and worth the effort, and with respect to complexity more needed than those involved are aware of.
In the second part of the empirical data analysis, the knowledge sharing strategies inuse in the two cases were examined. The first case represents a people-oriented approach using collocated open plan offices for the entire design team; the second case represents a tool-oriented approach drawing on a Building Information Model (BIM). The co-located offices provided the physical setting for knowledge sharing, but it not planned as a conscious strategy and so was mainly regarded as sharing the same office floor and was not used to its full potential. Physical boundaries remained between subteams and interaction was restricted to the level of project managers. In the second case, the implementation of a BIM represented a bottom-up and emergent strategy that embraced digital technologies for specific problems. The analysis showed that there was limited understanding about requirements and implication of changes in the design processes. Introduced through a bottom-up emergent strategy without commitment from all project partners, it was not possible to utilize the potential benefits of a BIM system for the overall design team. The analysis also revealed that what practitioners referred to as a BIM, was not a true BIM implementation, thereby indicating that digital concepts are still not completely clear in practice.
This comparative analysis of two cases led to several conclusions:
• Irrespective of whether a tool or people-oriented approach is used, there will be emerging strategies with which people try to address problems caused by limited knowledge sharing.
• The physical setting can play a major role in supporting interaction. Designers and managers will make intentional or spontaneous use of the possibilities that their physical setting affords, even though tools are available that can facilitate distributed work. Thus, tool implementations do not make physical settings obsolete.
• Tools provide a technological infrastructure such as creating virtual proximity, handling design and criteria changes, enhancing design representation, or dealing with changes in personnel. However, there is no magic want that cures all problems and challenges of LCBPs.
• Procedures refer to formal and informal rules about knowledge sharing. Such rules are important means of creating shared expectations and information exchange, however, procedures can only guide but not dictate the actual behaviour of actors in regard to knowledge sharing.
• Social practices form the social infrastructure that enables and facilitates knowledge sharing through the physical setting, tools, and procedures. However, if the project culture has emerged intuitively, these practices may involve rather limited sharing behaviour at various levels (i.e. executive, managerial, and technical).
Through my research and recommendations, I have attempted to offer fresh insights to practitioners about the value and necessity of knowledge sharing in large complex building projects. The framework of the Knowledge Diamond is not intended as a magic cure, but it can serve as a guideline for enhancing knowledge sharing by paying explicit attention to all four dimensions and taking advantages of new technologies such as BIM and 3D models. Although the insights of this research are based on only two cases, the conclusions were confirmed by a panel of experts who confirmed similarities with their own experience.
This study also contributed to the literature on knowledge sharing and project management. The Knowledge Diamond can help to conceptualise knowledge sharing at both the inter-organizational and cross-disciplinary level. It can also form the basis for further theory development about work in project-based settings and help to define new project management methodologies.
Due to its complexity, the evolution of cities is something that is difficult to predict and planning new developments for cities is therefore a difficult task. This complexity can be identified on two levels: on a micro level, it emerges from the multiple relations between the many components and actors in cities, whereas on a macro level it stems from the geographical, social and economic relations between cities. However, many of these relations can be measured.
The design of plans for cities can only be improved if designers are able to address measurements of some of the relationships between the components of cities during the design process. These measurements are called urban indicators. By calculating such measurements, designers can grasp the meaning of the changes being proposed, not just as simple alternative layouts, but also in terms of the changes in indicators adding a qualitative perception.
This thesis presents a method and a set of tools to generate alternative solutions for an urban context. The method proposes the use of a combined set of design patterns encoding typical design moves used by urban designers. The combination of patterns generates different layouts which can be adjusted by manipulating several parameters in relation to updated urban indicators. The patterns were developed from observation of typical urban design procedures, first encoded as discursive grammars and later translated into parametric design patterns. The CItyMaker method and tools allows the designer to compose a design solution from a set of programmatic premises and fine-tune it by pulling parameters whilst checking the changes in urban indicators. These tools improve the designer’s awareness of the consequences of their design moves.
Virtual 3D city models usually evolved from other geodata sets and were not set up from scratch. As traditional geodata used to be only 2D and 2.5D for a long time, 3D city models started naturally with 3D building models. On the one hand, this has a technical aspect, because buildings, especially when being modelled in a higher level of detail, can neither be described in 2D nor in 2.5D. On the other hand, this is because buildings form the identity of a city. This can clearly be seen when looking at the sights of a city, which are usually historic or modern buildings, such as cathedrals, palaces, skyscrapers, etc. In many cases, the 3D building models themselves were called 3D city model, because they are so essential for a virtual 3D city. A common way to create a 3D city model beyond the buildings is to combine them with 2D (i.e. city map) and 2.5D (i.e. digital terrain model) GIS data sets. In case the models are used for visualization purposes only, the city map is normally used in a raster format as texture on the terrain model. In case semantic 3D models are aimed for in order to use them for analysis, 2D city map vector data are raised, e.g. to a terrain model or a 3D point cloud. Continuative steps to enrich the virtual scene are often adding 3D bridge models or vegetation created by a set of template tree models and point-based tree information with height and tree top diameter as attributes to the point information. Problems usually occur due to temporal incoherence of the data sets. While for visualization purposes, these problems might be neglectable, they have to be tackled in case the resulting 3D city model should serve as basis for a city information model. In this paper, we want to discuss a new strategy in producing the 3D city model as well as other geodata products of Vienna which completely rethinks and reverses the geodata workflows currently in use. The centre of the strategy is to use the existing three-dimensional surveying and mapping data and potentially further input data to directly model a Digital geoTwin—a virtual, semantic 3D replica of all elements and objects of the city. Digital twins are an upcoming concept of digitizing elements, processes and systems of physical entities in order to create living digital simulation models as collaborative platform for many disciplines. We chose to add the prefix geo to our neologism Digital geoTwin to emphasize our focus on the geodetic, geometric aspect of creating semantic geo-objects for a digital twin. This Digital geoTwin should allow to derive other needed GIS data sets from it, which in corollary ensure full temporal coherence for all derived products. By linking the objects of the Digital geoTwin with further data and information, e.g. census data, socio economic data, energy consumption data, maintenance management data, etc., a city information model can be built up to serve as basis for a living digital twin of Vienna.