Parametric Urban Design from Concept to Practice

Abstract

Little research has been made into the application of parametric urban design approaches to urban design in practice. On the part of urban design practitioners, lack of knowledge of parametric design, time constraints and a focus on day-to-day operations contribute to this situation. And on the part of parametric design researchers, lack of understanding of practice workflows, project types and media output types also contribute. The limited interaction between academia and practice in itself constitutes a barrier to changing the situation. This paper presents some first results from a research project aiming to overcome this barrier. The research design involves a theoretical framework for parameterising site design on the level of site layout, building forms and facade schemas. It also involves an analysis of typical workflows from urban design practice, as well as of the types of media which are typically used to present urban design projects.