Speaker
Description
Urban planning regulations are critical policy instruments for managing urban areas, influencing their sustainability, resilience, and equity. In the face of urban crises, such as expansion, housing shortages, and environmental degradation, these regulations can either promote compact, efficient development or contribute to unsustainable growth patterns. While emerging digital technologies, including 3D simulations and scenario-based analysis, present transformative opportunities for urban planning, many urban plans still rely on static 2D maps and PDF documents, which fail to capture the complexity and dynamism of urban systems.
This study develops a dynamic 3D simulation model to analyze the interplay of urban land-use planning regulations, focusing on their roles in densification and urban expansion. Using zoning maps and regulatory texts as input data, first, building regulations are extracted and classified from regulatory documents to simulate 3D buildings at Level of Detail 1 (LOD1). Developable zones are then subdivided into smaller parcels for future development. The classified regulations are applied to each parcel according to its specific zone. Recognizing that building regulations vary in the level of flexibility, multiple regulatory scenarios are simulated to model variations in building form. Finally, these scenarios will be assessed and discussed based on their impacts on densification of built volume and urban expansion.
Sisslerfeld, the largest contiguous development reserve in northwestern Switzerland, is selected as the case study due to its diverse zoning areas and development potential. This site includes diverse zones, including mixed-residential, residential, mixed-business, commercial, and industrial, each regulated by specific building parameters such as plot size, setbacks, Building Coverage Ratio (BCR), Floor Area Ratio (FAR), and building height. To analyze the impact of these regulations on urban form, three scenarios are defined: (1) Current trend of building, which follows existing practices by applying observed BCR and FAR patterns in similar zones. (2) Maximizing FAR and BCR, which evaluates vertical development potential by setting FAR and BCR to their maximum permissible levels and computing the corresponding building height. (3) Maximum volume, which explores the highest development potential by applying maximum values for BCR and building height, regardless of FAR constraints.
Scenario simulations and visualizations are performed at the building level within a 3D environment using ArcGIS Pro. The results of the first scenario reveal how current development preferences influence building dimension and urban form. The second scenario shows how prioritizing horizontal expansion affects building form and urban density. The third scenario demonstrates the potential for urban densification while highlighting possible conflicts with FAR limitations in real-world settings. In addition, comparisons between the scenarios will offer insights into how different regulations and their flexibility influence density of built volume and urban expansion.
This research highlights the transformative potential of computational tools and digital innovations in tackling urban management challenges. By integrating urban planning regulations, 3D modelling and scenario-based analysis, it demonstrates how planners can evaluate the effects of planning policies and navigate trade-offs between densification and urban expansion. These findings emphasize the potential of dynamic, technology-enabled decision-making frameworks to manage the complexities of urban planning and to develop pathways for adaptive and resilient cities in the face of planetary crises.
| Keywords | 3D urban modelling; Planning policies; Building regulations; Scenario analysis. |
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| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
