Use of ICT tools for integration of energy in urban planning projects

Within the European collaboration project SUSREG a number of software tools for sustainable urban planning were applied and tested in the context of real case studies. Three types of ICT tools can be distinguished: Neighbourhood Sustainability Assessment Tools, Rating systems and LCA-LCC Tools. We discuss in more detail the Autodesk Ecotect Analysis tool, as applied in the case study of an old railway area in Burgos, Spain. The second tool is GPR Urban Planning, which was applied to a city expansion plan for the City of Nijmegen, The Netherlands. We conclude that ICT tools are often applied rather late in the planning process which neglects their potential advantages with respect to integral assessment and stakeholder communicationIntelligent Energy Europe Programme of the European Union. Basque Governmen

Urban Simulation Models: Contributions as Analysis-Methodology in a Project of Urban Renewal

The recent urban transformations produced in cities indicate the need to propose new theoretical and methodological approaches in physical planning. Based on the idea of complexity, it is required to integrate, in the analysis, multiplicity of interrelated factors involved in urban development,moreover, to develop planning tools that can incorporate variables not initially considered (for example when the norms were sanctioned) and instruments that would provide assessment alternatives to planning decisions in real time. The simulation models are suggested as tools to detect the elements, relationships and the dynamics in a simplified form that allow experiencing on the results. That is to say, a theoretical position on to a computer model is translated to investigate (in an experimental way) possible solutions derived from manipulating the variables, before the phenomenon is materialized. In the case of urban planning, this condition is of particular relevance, given the importance to anticipate unwanted effects in the intervention context that may arise when urban projects are built. The paper evaluates the application of a simulation methodology,based on the dynamics of systems and the application of software that can anticipate the effects of certain decisions in an urban renewal project in the city of Córdoba, Argentina. It applies the General Systems Theory that is a contribution to the notion of complex thought and is trans-disciplinary. Based on the idea of complex and multidimensional city, the effects of a real estate development are analyzed and conclusions on the limits and possibilities of using this tool during the processes of urban management are provided.Fil: Marengo, Maria Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño. Instituto de Investigación de la Vivienda; Argentin

Performance Measures for Public Transport Accessibility: learning from international practice

There is a growing recognition by city policymakers that urban public transport systems can be developed in such a way that travelers can be offered an alternative to car-based travel. How to evolve the public transport system for this purpose is a significant challenge and raises questions of accessibility and quality largely absent from current planning evaluation. This paper explores the use of accessibility performance measures, both to assess the extent of current public transport accessibility and as a potential metric for future planning and investment. The Spatial Network Analysis for Multimodal Urban Transport Systems (SNAMUTS) tool is employed for analysis of accessibility. A sample of 21 international cities is assessed, representing a range of transport and land-use policy contexts from best to ordinary practice, including those held up as exemplars in public transport infrastructure, service planning, and delivery in Europe and North America. The findings show that the incidence of successful metropolitan public transport systems, as measured by patronage, can be linked to accessibility performance measures of network and service configurations

Sustainability and Urban Planning Processes. An Integrated Tool for Sustainable Urban Management.

In the last decades in Italy the debate on the urban planning crisis (Balducci, 1991; Urbani, 2000) had showed a shift from practices informed by politics and negotiation to new positions where planning methods are characterized by a communicative adaptive evaluation of a set of options about land uses and transformations. Within this framework the need emerged of new approaches to planning able to fulfil community expectations. In the light of recent developments in the economic sector and his branches, and primarily in business management, various tools for urban policy making have been recently adopted and implemented in many Italian local authorities: - Implementation of certificated systems for environmental management (Varese Ligure was first Italian municipality to obtain an ISO 14001 certification in 1999); - Use of control and evaluation systems like environmental and strategic plan design aiming at the integration of these practices in a single comprehensive tool, articulated within three phases (organizational, social accounting (18 municipalities have already test these tools and a bill is discussed for their insert in public authorities management); - Employment of participatory practices in the government of environmental problems (Local Agenda 21 processes is hitting an advanced level of implementation both in the municipal and in the provincial level especially in regions like the Emily and Romagna, the Marches, Tuscany, Liguria); - Use of means of communication addressed both to internal members of public authorities and to stakeholders and local community (for example environmental and social statements drawing up by local authorities or sustainability reports like that compiled within 21st Olympic Games organization). However, the analysis of many case-studies showed often the use of these tools it is not directly coordinated with urban planning instruments. In this paper the authors propose a tentative framework for a sustainable decisional and operative) cyclicly. The objective is, as far as these practices are promoted by main international and European agendas and declarations, to connect by this tool local government choices to most important policies on sustainable development.

Master Plan Evaluation. A tool to enhance successful urban regeneration. Regent Quarter case study

Often in transitional periods between changing planning systems, “old” policy tools are abandoned and “innovative” tools are invented (in order to implement the new planning framework). In other cases, these “old” tools are adapting into tools used by the new planning regime, transforming their meaning, use and purpose. The design tool “Master Plan” is one of these cases. The study conducted is based on primary and secondary research. The report investigates the new meaning, use and purpose of “Master Plan” as a design tool. Also attempts the tool’s evaluation in order to assess its outcomes and therefore extract its importance. These issues will be examined through a thorough study of an urban regeneration project, in King’s Cross, in the edge of Central London. By way of the master plan’s process detailed analysis, the case study indicates that a “Master Plan” can encompass the new concepts of the changing planning system (such as the provision of flexibility and not strict limitation regarding developments process). Furthermore, through an evaluation, in terms of urban design and commercial performance, the case study shows how critical the “Master Plan” revealed for the success of urban regeneration. There is considerable emphasis on the role of the “Master Plan” as a tool to reconcile private and public interests

The principles of public transport network planning: a review of the emerging literature with select examples

This paper highlights for urban planners the key strategies and tactics that can be deployed to improve suburban public transport networks. Introduction The governance and management of public transport systems is an essential component of metropolitan planning and urban management. Most metropolitan strategies in Australia and in other jurisdictions presuppose the provision of public transport. Yet there is often a disconnection between transport plans and land-use schemes. Similarly, metropolitan land-use plans that do integrate with transport plans tend to focus on infrastructure rather than service quality and connectivity. A failure to adequately consider the quality of public transport networks in land-use planning analysis has the potential to produce poor planning outcomes in two key ways. First new land-uses may be inadequately served with public transport services, leading to dependence on alternative travel modes, such as cars. Second, the failure to recognise the significance of well-planned local public transport networks may result in the preclusion of some land-use options. This preclusion may relate to the location of land-uses or their design, such as over-provision of carparking. The continuing debate over whether to address suburban cardependence via land-use change or via transport planning is a case in point. And while the arguments in favour of and against land-use change as a means to overcome car dependence are well known in the planning literature. There is a growing if not yet widely appreciated literature that advocates improvements to public transport network planning and coordination as a means of reducing car dependence. The recognition of improved public transport network planning as a means of reducing car dependence is immensely significant because it offers planners an additional or alternative tool for managing urban transport patterns beyond land-use variation or investment in heavy infrastructure. Urban planning practitioners are not yet well served and informed by the broader public transport planning literature on the advantages of public transport network planning. While there is an extensive literature focusing on the economics and engineering of urban public transport systems the planning literature on the practices that contribute to success in public transport network design and operations is relatively poorly documented. There is also very little literature dedicated to public transport network design within Australian cities which are distinguished by highly centralised radial heavy rail networks with bus or tram networks that are well developed in inner urban zones but less so in the outer suburbs. The remainder of this paper has four objectives for transport planning theory and practice. First the paper reviews the literature on public transport network planning principles; next the paper attempts to formulate these principles in practical terms such that they can be applied to line and network design; third the paper considers further dimensions of network planning, including institutional arrangements and transition points in network design. The paper is intended for three audiences. The first is planning scholars who are involved in debates about public transport. The second is strategic policy officials in planning agencies who are involved in the planning and design of public transport networks. The third audience comprises those involved in development processes and who seek insights into the technical components of public transport network planning. Some caveats are appropriate however. The paper is not seeking to justify public transport network planning. The authors consider that the case for dedicated planning is implicit in the assumption that cities should provide good quality public transport to their residents. The wider case in favour of network planning has been successfully advanced elsewhere. Conversely, the paper is not intended as a directly applicable manual of detailed transport planning practice. While it does offer some insights into the practical public transport network planning task such guidance is better provided by Nielsen et al and Vuchic. Instead the paper highlights for urban planners the key strategies and tactics for that can be deployed to improve suburban public transport networks. Understanding these principles should thus assist urban planners – and urban scholars – to better shape and evaluate urban development processes and patterns

Prospective Enhancement of Urban Planning Methodology Based on OO Modeling and Rational Unified Process

Objective of paper is to try to define preliminary release for new urban planning methodology24 based on strong positive knowledge and practice of Object Oriented Methodologies, particular Unified Process and Model Driven Architecture widely used in IT industry. This should be in the same time starting step for the whole process of establishing this methodology which we consider as extremely complex, extensive and long-lasting as it is described later. One of the most important and effective characteristics of Unified Process is its iterative approach resulting in incremental advancement towards targeted goals opposite to the more traditional “waterfall” approach. We suggest the same method for urban planning methodology definition process previously mentioned. Actually, this method suggests to start with simple and small models and methodology elements25, which may not look useful at the start, and iterative improve it to the complex, strong and valuable methodology at the end. This is the way how modern IT methodology and modeling techniques are built to this level of complexity and expressiveness. Recommended method is especially important for urban planning methodology establishment process as complex and multidisciplinary research of application of formal methods, modeling methods, and theory for the solution of spatial problems including building environment, spatial city or regional structure. Planning theory and practice currently use several different methodologies or planning techniques but most of them are typically partial, verbal and informal, restricted to the local ambient, non-automated and thus especially difficult to be established within the IT. There is reasonable advancement in the different categories like GIS, Planning Support Systems, Decision Support System, Sketch Design, Modeling and automata theory. GIS, as the most mature one, is still not solution for all and whole problem of urban planning as it is explained in the literature (L8, L18). Planning and Decision support systems are still more in the academic and discussion phase than in actual implementation and use (L11, L13). Automata theory is exceptionally good and already widely used but has very limited implementation covering only narrow problem domain subset (L1, L10). Sketch Design and Modeling are not developed to the useful level despite theirs recent resurrection (L5, L6, L16, L17). Situation within the IT industry is opposite and we may find emerging standards for Analysis, Design, Implementation, Testing and Deployment of computer based systems which are successfully applied in many vertical industries. Results are improved controllability, quality, efficiency and accuracy of solutions, active participation of all participants, knowledge accumulation, knowledge transfer and at the end complete industry improvement. Papers propose multidisciplinary research focused on development, advancement and application of formal computer based modeling methodologies for better understanding and improvement of urban systems. Result of this research is not new programming or software tool, ready to solve all possible problems encountered to the planners in everyday work, but it is formal and standardized planning methodology. This methodology may be later used for software tool production as it was the case in the IT industry. For this we suggest as starting point OO Modeling (L7, L16), Unified Process (L12) and Unified Modeling Language (L4, L14). It is obvious that linear and direct application of Unified Process, to the urban systems, is not appropriate therefore localization to the urban domain should occur. Once again we strongly want to recommend iterative and incremental approach to the whole process and therefore we may consider this as a process of establishment of formal planning methodology26. Proposed Establishment Process is extremely difficult and complex therefore all participants should take active role. Moreover, it certainly requires a strong and widely supported strategic decision within the urban industry before it even starts. Without this support the whole research is destined to fail since it can not be established properly and will not be used and further developed. We will emphasize existence of two targeted directions of proposed research. The First considers mutation and application of Unified Process methodology and UML to the urban planning and urban systems domain and the second targets further enhancement of urban planning knowledge and techniques as the result of applied formal methodology. The First direction will question and improve Unified Process and UML completeness and universality through its further enrichment, by adding and generalize domain specific particularities. The Second direction aims to establish new planning methodology as solution for emerging problems found in contemporary urban systems

Towards a Circular Urban Metabolism with Sewer Wastewater Heat Recovery Systems (SWWHRS): Introducing a SWWHRS Planning Decision Support System

In this paper I describe how cities can reduce their dependence on fossil fuels for space and water heating by utilizing sewer wastewater heat as a low carbon energy source. I introduce the first stage of a planning decision support system for implementing sewer wastewater heat recovery systems. The model decision support system is intended for community energy planners and other relevant stakeholders to identify locations for matching sewer wastewater heat with appropriate thermal energy demand. This project demonstrates how ideal locations of sewer wastewater heat supply from municipal sewers can be matched with space/water heating demand using spatial analysis techniques and geographic information systems. This first proposed stage of a decision support system utilizes GIS to perform a site suitability analysis that can be used as the basis for further feasibility assessments in the planning of a sewer wastewater heat recovery system. Guelph, Ontario, Canada is used as a case study area. I go on to demonstrate the potential for reducing fossil fuel use in Guelph by identifying the volume of heat that can be recovered from each sewer segment and selecting several ideal locations that warrant further investigation into the feasibility of implementing a sewer wastewater heat recovery system. This proposed planning tool has potential for identifying significant carbon emission reduction opportunities in Ontario due to the large volume of natural gas consumed for space and water heating in the province`s urban residential and commercial zones and the prevalence of extensive sewer networks in all major urban areas. The decision support tool presented in this paper should however be utilized by a community energy planner in conjunction with other approaches for assessing how to reduce natural gas use for heating, as wastewater heat recovery is but one possible solution. Discussion of other approaches is beyond the scope of this research paper