Title
Urbane: A 3D framework to support data driven decision making in urban development
Abstract
Architects working with developers and city planners typically rely on experience, precedent and data analyzed in isolation when making decisions that impact the character of a city. These decisions are critical in enabling vibrant, sustainable environments but must also negotiate a range of complex political and social forces. This requires those shaping the built environment to balance maximizing the value of a new development with its impact on the character of a neighborhood. As a result architects are focused on two issues throughout the decision making process: a) what defines the character of a neighborhood? and b) how will a new development change its neighborhood? In the first, character can be influenced by a variety of factors and understanding the interplay between diverse data sets is crucial; including safety, transportation access, school quality and access to entertainment. In the second, the impact of a new development is measured, for example, by how it impacts the view from the buildings that surround it. In this paper, we work in collaboration with architects to design Urbane, a 3-dimensional multi-resolution framework that enables a data-driven approach for decision making in the design of new urban development. This is accomplished by integrating multiple data layers and impact analysis techniques facilitating architects to explore and assess the effect of these attributes on the character and value of a neighborhood. Several of these data layers, as well as impact analysis, involve working in 3-dimensions and operating in real time. Efficient computation and visualization is accomplished through the use of techniques from computer graphics. We demonstrate the effectiveness of Urbane through a case study of development in Manhattan depicting how a data-driven understanding of the value and impact of speculative buildings can benefit the design-development process between architects, planners and developers.
Year
DOI
Venue
2015
10.1109/VAST.2015.7347636
2015 IEEE Conference on Visual Analytics Science and Technology (VAST)
Keywords
DocType
Citations 
Urban data analysis,GIS,impact analysis,visual analytics,architecture,city development
Conference
3
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.36
18
8
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Nivan Ferreira130112.41
Marcos Lage2758.59
Harish Doraiswamy325218.95
Huy T. Vo4103561.10
Luc Wilson5201.93
Heidi Werner660.74
Muchan Park730.36
Cláudio Silva830.36