| id |
ddss9441 |
| authors |
Hammond, Barbara |
| year |
1994 |
| title |
Computer Aided Urban Design |
| source |
Second Design and Decision Support Systems in Architecture & Urban Planning (Vaals, the Netherlands), August 15-19, 1994 |
| summary |
The product of the Urban Design process in the public sector in the UK is usually a briefing document of some kind which communicates design ideas in outline both to the lay public and to private developers. The problem with briefing effectively is that outline expression of ideas does not provide a strong basis for negotiation with developers; the temptation therefore is to work up one proposal in detail and to present it as the only option. This type of prescriptive briefing may be successful in situations where the public body has control over the land, the economy is buoyant and the site has a simple context. Its problems are that it is labour intensive, so some areas are covered in detail, others not at all; it is seen as restrictive by developers, so may create a climate of conflict rather than certainty; it is not responsive to change; it covers specific sites thoroughly but does not deal well with large, complex areas; on large sites it tends towards a homogeneous environment whereas the nature of towns and cities is pluralistic and heterogeneous; it confines the Urban Designer to site specific work rather than allowing concentration on the whole urban system. Urban Designers at the London Docklands Development Corporation felt that CAD might present some answers to these problems in facilitating an iterative, interactive briefing process which could respond quickly to change; whereby varying options for development could be investigated fully but quickly and resource-efficiently; which could be used to communicate design ideas effectively to non-professionals; which could help to make negotiation with developers more effective, less confrontational; which could deal with large, complex sites effectively. The idea was that a piece of city could be modeled on the computer and an urban design study would then be carried out on it which would test varying options for development, resulting in an outline, but three dimensional, model for an area which could be used in three ways: as a briefing tool, as part of a marketing exercise and as a tool to aid effective negotiation and consultation at the planning stage. A pilot project was carried out on a set of development sites at East India Dock and, following the success of this, a full study was carried at Surrey Quays Centre. The paper describes these projects and discusses both their products and their effect on the developmentprocess as aids in decision making. |
| series |
DDSS |
| references |
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| last changed |
2003/08/07 16:36 |
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