Urban Design Process Research Articles

Artificial Intelligence as Research Methods in Urban Design

This paper delves into the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in urban design, focusing on its capability to manage complex urban systems via paradigm classification and comparative analysis. It methodically explores how AI improves design generation, optimizes morphology, and simulates real-world scenarios, thereby enhancing design quality and efficiency throughout the urban design process. Furthermore, the study contributes to the development of comprehensive AI evaluation criteria, integrating both theoretical and practical perspectives to critically understand the advantages and limitations of AI in urban design applications.

Fostering Gender Transformative Cities around the World

In the context of rapid urbanisation and the effects of climate change and conflicts, social inclusion and stakeholder engagements remain a low priority for most decision-makers in shaping the future of cities. The urban development initiative Her City intends to mainstream gender and age perspectives in urban planning and design decision-making processes. Her City offers a toolbox for municipal professionals, urban actors, and local decision-makers to involve girls and young women in urban planning and design processes and challenge exclusionary practices and social inequalities. This viewpoint asserts that integrating girls' perspectives leads to more responsive urban planning and the creation of inclusive and economically viable public spaces across the world. Applying an intersectional approach to urban planning, in a multitude of urban settings with different social, cultural, political and economic prerequisites, have proven to be an efficient shortcut to sustainable cities, Additionally, the initiative's success is underscored by its alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), delivering resilient cities for all. This viewpoint presents lessons learned from the application of Her City in Peru, Jamaica, Mozambique, Uganda, Palestine, Thailand, and Italy. These localised projects in various regions demonstrate how Her City can deliver tangible outcomes, such as the revitalisation of public spaces, community empowerment, and the promotion of gender equality, while fostering social cohesion, economic empowerment, and environmental sustainability. By championing gender-responsive urban development, Her City offers a blueprint for creating inclusive, resilient, and sustainable cities globally.

AI-enhanced smart urban design process for salutogenic residential area: the case of Capital City of Nusantara (IKN)

AI-enhanced smart urban design process for salutogenic residential area: the case of Capital City of Nusantara (IKN)

Co-design challenges: exploring collaborative rationality and design thinking in the urban design process

ABSTRACT This research investigates the inherent challenges within the urban design process. It argues for the importance of co-design, a collaborative approach involving stakeholders. Through the lenses of ‘collaborative rationality’ and ‘design thinking’, the study explores the implementation of co-design. Employing qualitative methods including content analysis and specialised techniques, the research aims to develop a conceptual framework for operationalising co-design during the design stage. This framework emphasises fostering mutual understanding among stakeholders. It will be structured as a multi-level and multi-factorial process, existing within a cyclical model of discovery, ideation, conceptualisation, and evaluation.

Situating spatial determinism in urban design and planning for sustainable walkability: a simulation of street morphology and pedestrian behaviour

Streets and roads have been constantly identified as key spaces to improve walkability and—by extension—the entire urban environment. Such improvements lie on planning and design theories that are often supported by qualitative evidence and as such, tend to remain highly speculative on how street design influences walkability in more deterministic ways. Drawbacks in further exploring this street-walkability correlation are partly defined by an explicit rejection to ‘spatial determinism’ in urban morphology and social sciences, but also because combining differing epistemological approaches for understanding social processes linked to the physical aspects of the space is complex. In this paper, it is proposed that qualitative (social-based) theories of the space and quantitative (positivist) understandings of people’s behaviour can complement each other to elaborate upon ‘spatial determinism’ with focus on streetscapes and pedestrian behaviour. By using Agent-Based Modelling (ABMs), morphological components of streets linked to population characteristics are analysed to understand walkability from the perspective of spatial determinism. The findings suggest that the street settings directly affect pedestrian behaviour, and that changes in the built environment result in changes on walkability patterns. Ultimately, the modelling exercise shed light on street design and walkability, but also on wider debates on how urban design and social processes correlate in more deterministic and, therefore, predictable ways.

Animal-Aided Design – planning for biodiversity in the built environment by embedding a species’ life-cycle into landscape architectural and urban design processes

There are suggestions of how to integrate biodiversity-friendly measures into both architecture and landscape architecture, however it is unclear how to systematically include the needs of other organisms such as animals. One particular challenge is the conflict between amenity and biodiversity, as the human designer aims for good design, which often appears to be incompatible with biodiversity-friendly measures. Here we describe ‘Animal-Aided Design’ (AAD) as a methodology to systematically include animals into the planning cycle of project-based planning. The basic idea of AAD is to make animals an integral part of the design and define their needs at the beginning of the planning process. The requirements of target species then set boundary conditions for the planning process, but also serve as an inspiration for the design itself. We illustrate our methodology using theoretical examples, mostly from Western Europe, in particular Germany.

Urban design leadership: part 1, the styles of leadership

AbstractThis paper, in two parts, explores the styles and application of urban design leadership as a dimension of urban design governance. Part 1 explores the literature on leadership and its relation to urban design. It discusses the relation of urban design leadership to places and situations, first connecting through the fundamentally integrative nature of the activity – vertically, horizontally, and temporally – and second influencing across professional, sectorial, and power contexts. It then conceptualises a typology of leadership – autocratic, paternalistic, democratic, laissez-faire, transactional, transformational, and absent – and considers how these leadership styles, none of which are absolute, influence the process and outcomes of urban design. The paper concludes with a framework for understanding urban design leadership that can be applied to the varied practices of urban design globally. Part 2 tests and illustrates this through its application to the roles and practices of Public Architects across Europe.

Automatic topology and capacity generation framework for urban drainage systems with deep learning-based land use segmentation and hydrological characterization

This paper proposed a comprehensive and automated framework that integrates the entire urban drainage design process, from refined land use segmentation, to catchment subdivision and characterization, to network topology generation, and finally to hydraulic estimation of pipeline capacity, based on multiple open-source datasets. The method incorporated deep learning-based semantic segmentation, GIS-based hydrological characterization, topology generation and hydraulic calculation algorithms. The performance and applicability of the method were validated through case studies of two cities. The results showed that the deep learning model with prior knowledge could accurately segment urban land use to obtain the detailed shape and boundary description, and achieved higher detection accuracy for water bodies, buildings, and roads. The stormwater drainage topology and conveyance capacity were automatically generated based on subcatchment division and hydrological characterization under a set of topological parameter conditions. In the optimal Critical Success Index (CSI) scenario, only 8% and 21% of the generated pipelines were inconsistent with the expert-designed networks. Compared to the traditional manual design process, the automated approach can save significant time and resources and reduce the reliance on field surveys and empirical/expert work. At the same time, the tool can be employed for system layout and capacity optimization, providing important support for the automation, design, and rehabilitation of stormwater drainage systems.

Evaluating the impact of landscape configuration, patterns and composition on land surface temperature: an urban heat island study in the Megacity Lahore, Pakistan.

The urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon is negatively impacted by rapid urbanization, which significantly affects people's everyday lives, socioeconomic activities, and the urban thermal environment. This study focuses on the impact of composition, configuration, and landscape patterns on land surface temperature (LST) in Lahore, Pakistan. The study uses Landsat 5-TM and Landsat 8-OLI/TIRS data acquired over the years 2000, 2010 and 2020 to derive detailed information on land use, normalized difference vegetation index, LST, urban cooling islands (UCI), green cooling islands (GCI) and landscape metrics at the class and landscape level such as percentage of the landscape (PLAND), patch density (PD), class area (CA), largest patch index (LPI), number of patches (NP), aggregation index (AI), Landscape Shape Index (LSI), patch richness (PR), and mean patch shape index (SHAPE_MN). The study's results show that from the years 2000 to 2020, the built-up area increased by 17.57%, whereas vacant land, vegetation, and water bodies declined by 03.79%, 13.32% and 0.4% respectively. Furthermore, landscape metrics at the class level (PLAND, LSI, LPI, PD, AI, and NP) show that the landscape of Lahore is becoming increasingly heterogeneous and fragmented over time. The mean LST in the study area exhibited an increasing trend i.e. 18.87°C in 2000, 20.93°C in 2010, and 22.54°C in 2020. The significant contribution of green spaces is vital for reducing the effects of UHI and is highlighted by the fact that the mean LST of impervious surfaces is, on average, roughly 3°C higher than that of urban green spaces. The findings also demonstrate that there is a strong correlation between mean LST and both the amount of green space (which is negative) and impermeable surface (which is positive). The increasing trend of fragmentation and shape complexity highlighted a positive correlation with LST, while all area-related matrices including PLAND, CA and LPI displayed a negative correlation with LST. The mean LST was significantly correlated with the size, complexity of the shape, and aggregation of the patches of impervious surface and green space, although aggregation demonstrated the most constant and robust correlation. The results indicate that to create healthier and more comfortable environments in cities, the configuration and composition of urban impermeable surfaces and green spaces should be important considerations during the landscape planning and urban design processes.

An interactive method for generating and evaluating urban design alternatives in early design stages

The field of generative design strives to enable the automated generation of multiple suitable urban design alternatives. However, quantitative analysis is typically conducted in the later design stages, when options are limited, and modifications are costly. Generative methods enable the creating of designs that bridge traditional methods, through systematic examination of numerous options during the early design stages. Yet their utilization in architectural practices is limited, partly due to antagonism that stems from the perceived lack of involvement of urban designers in such methods (which often behave like black boxes). The objective of this study was to develop a generative design process that combines rule-based automated algorithmic processes with the active involvement of urban designers, thereby offering a wide range of design alternatives during the planning phase. Additionally, the study aims at ensuring the key involvement of urban designers throughout the design process. The methodology employed in this study is comprised of both quantitative and subjective evaluations that the urban designers can conduct themselves. This result is an interactive process that utilizes generative tools and computerized analytical measures for creating, evaluating, and screening multiple urban design options at the urban neighborhood level, with an emphasis on residents’ well-being, and based on the designers’ preferred parameters. This parametric workflow could assist designers in the early decision-making process and may be integrated into current urban design processes.

Environmental Risks Associated With Urban Development Projects in Kenya

Purpose: The aim of the study was to examine environmental risks associated with urban development projects in Kenya Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: The study revealed that urban development projects in Kenya present significant environmental risks that require careful consideration and proactive mitigation measures. The rapid urbanization and infrastructure expansion in Kenya's cities have been associated with various environmental challenges, including air and water pollution, habitat loss, soil degradation, urban heat island effects, and adverse impacts on human health. These environmental risks stem from factors such as increased vehicular emissions, industrial activities, improper waste management practices, deforestation, and inadequate urban planning and infrastructure. The concentration of population and economic activities in urban centers exacerbates these environmental pressures, further highlighting the urgent need for sustainable urban development strategies in Kenya. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: urban political ecology theory, environmental justice theory & sustainable development theory may be used to anchor future studies on environmental risks associated with urban development projects in Kenya. Prioritize the implementation of green infrastructure initiatives, such as green roofs, urban parks, and sustainable drainage systems, to mitigate environmental risks associated with urban development. Integrate nature-based solutions into urban planning and design processes to enhance ecosystem services, improve air and water quality, and reduce urban heat island effects. Advocate for legislative reforms and policy interventions that prioritize environmental sustainability in urban development planning and regulation. Implement stringent environmental impact assessment (EIA) processes for all urban development projects to ensure compliance with environmental standards and regulations.

Rapid pedestrian‐level wind field prediction for early‐stage design using Pareto‐optimized convolutional neural networks

AbstractTraditional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods used for wind field prediction can be time‐consuming, limiting architectural creativity in the early‐stage design process. Deep learning models have the potential to significantly speed up wind field prediction. This work introduces a convolutional neural network (CNN) approach based on the U‐Net architecture, to rapidly predict wind in simplified urban environments, representative of early‐stage design. The process of generating a wind field prediction at pedestrian level is reformulated from a 3D CFD simulation into a 2D image‐to‐image translation task, using the projected building heights as input. Testing on standard consumer hardware shows that our model can efficiently predict wind velocities in urban settings in less than 1 ms. Further tests on different configurations of the model, combined with a Pareto front analysis, helped identify the trade‐off between accuracy and computational efficiency. The fastest configuration is close to seven times faster, while having a relative loss, which is 1.8 times higher than the most accurate configuration. This CNN‐based approach provides a fast and efficient method for pedestrian wind comfort (PWC) analysis, potentially aiding in more efficient urban design processes.

Evaluation of the Literature on the Use of Space Underneath Elevated Highways in Urban Leftover Space Renewal

The construction of urban highways within and around the city has resulted in a significant amount of residual spaces, which are rarely incorporated into official planning and design efforts. This literature review paper provides an overview of space underneath elevated highways delivered by urban leftover space: What types of leftover space have been discussed? Which underneath elevated highways have been identified in leftover space? 112 scientific papers were analyzed for their 1) leftover space terms applied, 2) space underneath elevated highways studied, 3) current or potential underneath elevated highways discussed. Through the review, we found that although different types of space have been identified in leftover space, most studies did not consider underneath elevated highways synergies and trade-offs. The literature review highlights two knowledge gaps for future research: Firstly, the existing research on residual space under urban viaducts has been exhaustive in terms of connecting with environmental attributes. Secondly, the content of the social interaction and use of the remaining space under the viaducts can be connected to the content of the environmental attributes. The existing gaps in the research indicate the importance of exploring the potential impacts aimed at utilizing leftover spaces. By highlighting the value of the environmental attributes of under-bridge spaces, the literature study promotes the recognition of the association of social interactions with the environmental attributes of under-bridge spaces and further outlines future research directions for the remaining under-bridge spaces in the urban design process.

ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF LAND COVER AND LAND USE CHANGE ON URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE RESILIENCE IN ABUJA, NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY FROM 2017 TO 2022

The remarkable feature of rapid urbanisation, which has fundamentally altered the distribution of land cover and land use (LULC), is what sets the contemporary era apart. The impact of these modifications on the resilience of Abuja’s metropolitan infrastructure from 2017 to 2022 is examined in this study. Our study examined the dynamic changes in LULC using information from remote sensing, geospatial analysis software, and land cover categorization techniques. The findings indicate major changes in Abuja’s topography, including a decrease in the number of water bodies, a decrease in the number of trees, the expansion of urban areas, changes in agricultural land use, and fluctuations in the amount of grazing land. The previously mentioned changes have significant consequences for urban infrastructure resilience, affecting various sectors such as water supply, transportation, housing, utilities, and food distribution systems. The infrastructure supporting water supply and sanitation may be severely stretched as the number of water bodies decreases, affecting the quantity and quality of accessible water supplies. As metropolitan areas expand, greater strain is placed on transportation infrastructure, exacerbating traffic congestion and complicating road maintenance ifficulties. Changes in agricultural land use can have an impact on food production and distribution, hence affecting food security. Deforestation can cause ecological deterioration, affecting a variety of aspects such as temperature regulation, biological diversity, and atmospheric purity. Adaptive approaches, green infrastructure, and adopting sustainable urban design can all strengthen the resilience of urban infrastructure, according to this study. The significance of renewable energy adoption, community participation, green building laws, the establishment of public-private partnerships, integrated water resource management, and data-driven decision-making is emphasised. Improving legal frameworks that prioritise resilience and sustainability is critical. It is critical to have a complete grasp of the complicated links between changes in LULC, and the resilience of urban infrastructure in order to enable educated urban design and decision-making processes. Policymakers and urban planners may address and minimise the negative consequences of climate change while improving the overall quality of life in cities by using sustainable development practises. The findings of this study have the potential to dramatically improve Abuja’s people’s well-being and sustainability, especially given the variety of urban difficulties they encounter.

A collaborative hybridity design approach: enhancing urban water resilience and spatial legibility

ABSTRACT Within the global transition to sustainable urban water management, Dutch polder cities are also contemplating revitalising their water traditions. One of the keys to this task is to integrate water management into urban design, which is explored but not yet practically instrumentalized in the urban design process. This article introduces the concept of hybridity and develops a Hybridity Design Approach as an interdisciplinary methodology to explore the possibility of realising the extreme low impact Closed City Concept. Integration of the water environment and urban space needs interdisciplinary cooperation and sharing knowledge, as well as an innovative way of thinking about water-resilient urban design, maximising the landscape quality of a polder city while minimising its hydrological footprint in the region. Effective visualisation tools and techniques for this collaborative design process are developed and tested in the area of Zevenkamp in Rotterdam.

Insights/Opinion: Promoting Urban Studies and Practice with Emerging Technologies: City Laboratory, New City, and Future City Exploration

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, marked by emerging/disruptive technologies like mobile internet, big data, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), immersive media (VR/AR/MR), and the Internet of Things (IoT), is transforming cities and promoting urban development. This paper argues that these technologies foster urban studies and implementation in three pathways: methodology, epistemology, and practice. First, the new data environment offers a foundation for quantitative and objective urban studies, enabling researchers to treat cities as laboratories and conduct city experiments worldwide. Second, emerging technologies are reshaping contemporary urban life and space, promoting the update of urban theories. Third, these technologies are expected to be applied as new elements in the urban planning and design processes to create smart urban spatial forms that cater to contemporary needs. Overall, this paper highlights the potential significance of emerging technologies for urban research and development in terms of research methods and data support, theoretical updates and iterations, and practical urban planning and design.

Visual Sustainability in Urban Renewal Projects Traditional kut City Center as a Case Study

This research addresses the importance of visual sustainability as an essential element in city centre renewal projects, and its role in enhancing the visual quality of urban centres, as most traditional cities suffer from increasing challenges in facing urban renewal processes due to various interventions, which may lead to the loss of the city’s cultural and visual identity. The research aims to understand how to achieve visual sustainability in the centre of the heritage city of Al Kut as a case study and the impact of this on the quality of life and community interaction.The study area was analyzed using the SWAT analysis method, in addition to a literature review on the topic, observation, interviews with key stakeholders involved, and analysis of existing data and documents. The research concluded that focusing on visual quality indicators can enhance identity, heritage, aesthetics, and quality of life in cities, as the results showed a positive relationship between visual quality indicators and the clarity of the urban environment. Therefore, enhancing visual sustainability in the traditional Kut city center requires focusing on three main indicators that can be achieved by using sustainable local materials, preserving cultural and heritage landmarks, and integrating the urban design process with community participation in planning, design, implementation, and implementation. Evaluations.

Is Brussels a ‘Care city’? A gender investigation on the effects of the public transportation system on carers’ lives

The aim of this paper is to explore the complex dynamics between issues of care, gender, and mobility, trying to reflect on the characteristics of an urban environment designed to meet the needs of women working in the care sector, regardless of their ethnicity, age, social status, physical condition, or sexual orientation and definition. By choosing the city of Brussels as an adequate case study we especially focus on the impact of the city’s mobility sector on the daily life of migrant female care workers, and of vulnerable groups more generally. This ongoing research is based on a theoretical framework (stemming from existing literature) from which we have extrapolated a set of parameters to structure the data collection (by interviews) and the theoretical and graphical elaborations. To address and respond to the multiple crises we are facing today, in our view it is crucial to call for a radical change in our urban design processes, directing our efforts toward implementing more inclusive urban models and practices. Our methodology gave us an opportunity to critically reflect on the possibilities that gender-driven urban policies and practices could open for our cities (and societies) towards a more sustainable and inclusive future for all.

Co-Design of a Public Space and the Implementation: Atakent (Car) Park

Citizen Design Science is a new co-design strategy for urban and architectural systems that improves the planning, design, management, and renewal of cities, urban habitats, and architectural structures, using active design tools through citizens' observation, experience, and local knowledge. The aim of this study is to describe how Atakent Parking Area is transformed into a public space design and implementation through both digital and analog active design tools in the co-design process that includes citizens' spatial experiences, needs, and desires through the method of citizen design science. The objective indicators and subjective perception applied in the study were combined in the co-design process to implement an urban design project. The experimental collaborative urban design process is realized on a democratic platform based on the tendencies and expectations of the participants. Two conceptual urban design projects were prepared with design science data including citizens' wishes, needs, and suggestions about the area, and participating citizens were asked to vote for the project democratically in the urban space. The selected conceptual design project was transformed into an implementation project in the urban area.

Inter-rater reliability of the ‘Tool for assessing determinants of health in public space’ in a co-creative urban design process with care home residents in Barcelona: a Health CASCADE study

ABSTRACT This study aims to evaluate the inter-rater reliability of the Tool for assessing determinants of health in public space, a methodology developed to assess the potential health impact of public space improvement actions. The study involved a participatory evaluation conducted during an urban design co-creation process with older adults and researchers from various disciplines. Ten older adults from a care home in Barcelona and five researchers participated in the evaluation of five selected public spaces using the tool. An analysis using Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) was conducted to assess inter-rater reliability. A descriptive comparison of the results was performed based on the scores given to each determinant. The findings provide insights into the tool’s reliability and its potential for capturing diverse perspectives. The Tool does not appear to have high reliability when implemented in a community setting. The ICC values for most of the determinants are relatively low, indicating poor or moderate levels of agreement among the raters/judges. The study highlights the importance of involving end-users and researchers in the evaluation process, emphasizing the need for user-centered design and co-creation in urban planning. The results contribute to improving public health outcomes and promoting age-friendly environments in urban spaces.