Evaluating Parametric City Designs in Virtual Reality

Public urban space has many different users and is subject to many different interests. Hence, it is fundamentally contested. Proposals for changes to urban space, particularly bigger ones such as high rise buildings or large-scale redevelopment, typically stir a lot of public debate. Yet, once new structures are erected, they rarely come down again if disapproved of.

If proposals for new structures in urban space could be evaluated realistically, even by non-professionals, constructive and meaningful debate could be made even before the structures were erected. To this end, AR/VR constitutes a major potential. Yet, little is known about how best to organize and present urban space visualizations of proposed new structures in urban space in AR/VR.

Based on parametric urban design technology to provide potentially highly detailed virtual urban environments, this project aims to develop and test methods to present multiple scenarios for urban redevelopment in AR/VR to lay persons. Using a pipeline of parametric modeler to game engine to AR/VR, the project should define, test and evaluate elements of such methods, to be defined in the course of the project.

Virtual Reality (VR) is an under-utilized resource for experiencing and evaluating un-built city design elements. This project aims to develop techniques and experiences with such evaluation to make it more widely available to architects and project stakeholders.