Big Data Informed Urban Design

Keynote at the Global Forum on Urban and Regional Resilience

15.05.2014
Dr. Reinhard König
Chair of Information Architecture, ETH Zurich
reinhard.koenig@arch.ethz.ch | http://www.ia.arch.ethz.ch
Motivation

Urban planning is traditionally a heuristics

problem solving process.

We support the planning process with new

big data acquisition and analysis techniques
with the aim to establish a more evidence
informed planning process.
 Resilience
of urban structures

Can an evidence informed planning process

based on advanced simulation and design
synthesis methods lead to more resilient
urban structures?
 ETH Zurich & FCL
Information Architecture

Research group of 20 people

We develop computational and

visual methods for the analysis,
Chen Zong
Gideon Aschwanden
Eva Friedrich
design and simulation of urban
Dr. Bernhard Klein
Dr. Matthias Berger systems for sustainable cities.
Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) SMALL
BUILDING TECHNOLOGY
MEDIUM
URBAN DESIGN
LARGE
TERRITORIAL PLANNING

LOW EXERGY

DIGITAL FABRICATION
Scales, Stocks and Flows

A/P ARCHITECTURE & CONSTRUCTION

TRANSFORMING & MINING URBAN STOCKS

HOUSING

URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES & RESOURCES

URBAN SOCIOLOGY

A/P ARCHITECTURE & URBAN PLANNING

TERRITORIAL ORGANISATION

LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY

MOBILITY & TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

A/P ARCHITECTURE & TERRITORIAL PLANNING

SIMULATION PLATFORM
Future Cities Laboratory
FCL 2

We are primarily involved in

• Cooler Calmer Singapore
• Responsive Cities
From Big Data Analysis
Data-driven decisions are better decisions -
to Urban Planning it’s as simple as that.

Using big data enables planners to decide

on the basis of evidence rather than
intuition.

For that reason it has the potential to

revolutionize planning and design.

But!
Big data’s power does not erase the need
for vision or human insight.
From Big Data Analysis Once there was the idea that we can
develop patterns, which represent good
to Urban Planning solutions for specific aspects of a planning…
Sustainable Urban Patterns
Where we started from…
 Smart Urban Adapt
to the spin-off SmarterBetterCities

Sika City
From SmarterBetterCities: A customized city library for Sika Group.
From Big Data Analysis Once there was the idea that we can
develop patterns, which represent good
to Urban Planning solutions for specific aspects of a planning…

… but we learned that it always depends

on the context if a solution is good or not.

 Now, we have to look for more

opportunistic models.
 From Big Data Analysis
to Urban Planning

With Big Data methods planners can use

cheap and former useless data for decision
support.

Such a decision process is able to integrate
new data much faster and almost without
any limitations. Therefore this process
becomes much more resilient to changing
political, economical or ecological
circumstances.
The vast amount of integrated data
provides a probabilistic holistic model
of highly complex systems – like social
housing – and is able to support a broad
spectrum of planning decisions in a smart
yet simple manner.
Understanding Cities
Analyzing economic data

Top: Modeling money flows to simulate spending behavior and

explain spatial economic patterns (Daniel Zünd)

Left: Tropical Town: Assessing economic potential of the

built form, using agents with vision (Eva Friedrich)
Understanding Cities
Analyzing transportation data

Exploring the temporal interchange patterns at the Singapore Metro system

Sensing by mobile application High Efficiency Vehicle Detecting Algorithm

Analyzing detailed mobility-related factors

Transportation mode classifying

Location type defining

PhD project of Dongyoun Shin

 Understanding Cities
ESUM research project

The secondary emotions are those that have a major cognitive component.
They are determined by both their level of arousal (low to high) and their
valence (pleasant to unpleasant).
Source: Adapted from Russell, J. A. (1980). A circumplex model of
affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 1161–1178.

Figure from: Hogertz, C. (2009). Emotions of the city walker: Remember: emotions are not the same as feelings
sensory mapping, 1–22.
Understanding Cities
ESUM research project

Top: Isovists along the path. Bottom: sequence of isovist properties

(area, perimeter, compactness, occlusivity) along the path.
Understanding Cities
ESUM research project

Basic framework for computationally

aided evidence informed design (CEID).

Figure from the ESUM research project

(ETH Zürich and Bauhaus-Universität Weimar).
From Big Data Analysis
From Big Data Analysis we learnt
to Urban Planning so far:

Future planning processes

will be based on constantly
changing truths.
Urban Design Space
Optimization for planning purposes
Exploration

Figures from: Rutton, D. (2010). Evolutionary Principles applied to Problem

Solving. http://www.grasshopper3d.com/profiles/blogs/evolutionary-principles
Computational Planning
Optimization for planning purposes
Synthesis

http://51steppenwolf.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/wegweiser_sella.jpg

http://www.adpic.de/data/picture/detail/B
ergsteiger_erreicht_Gipfel_13946.jpg
 Computational Planning Synthesis
Automated Layout Design

Koenig, R., Schneider, S., & Knecht, K. (2012). KREMLAS: Entwicklung

einer kreativen evolutionären Entwurfsmethode für Layoutprobleme in
Architektur und Städtebau. (R Koenig, D. Donath, & F. Petzold, Eds.)
(Koenig, R.). Weimar: Verlag der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.
 Computational Planning Synthesis
Urban Layouts
Sample-results of the optimzation of the different objective criteria for
Area after n=40 generations. Top row: Results achieved through
minimizing the objective criteria. Bottom row: Results achieved through
maximizing the objective criteria. The configuration is superimposed on
the isovsit field.
Optimization based on Isovist field properties
Schneider, S., & Koenig, R. (2012). Exploring the Generative Potential
of Isovist Fields - The Evolutionary Generation of Urban Layouts based
on Isovist Field Properties. In 30th International Conference on
Education and research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in
Europe.
Computational Planning Synthesis
Urban Layouts
Top: Inverse Urban Design: Enhancement of urban environment at
pedestrian scale (Anastasia Koltsova)

Koenig, R.: Software-Prototype, 2013

Left and top: Applicability of urban synthesis techniques

for planning problems (Dr. Reinhard König)
Computational Planning Synthesis
Street Networks

Koenig, R., Treyer, L., & Schmitt, G. (2013). Graphical smalltalk

with my optimization system for urban planning tasks. In
eCAADe: Computation and Performance. Delft
Urban energy analysis Real-Time Solar Analysis:
Solar simulation as basis for
Real-Time Solar Analysis energy-conscious urban design.

Video by Sven Schneider, Bauhaus-University Weimar, 2013

 Optimization
PISA, Aforge.Net & CPlan Multi-criteria optimization framework

• Existing selector algorithms are connected to the

computational planning framework CPLAN

• CPLAN is coupled with Lucy

 How can we visualize solutions on a multi-
Explore dimensional pareto-front?
The Solution Space How can we use the solutions for further
investigations?

Volker Mueller. Presentation at eCCADe 2013:

Generation, Exploration and Optimisation. 9/20/2013
Urban Design Space
Exploration System
Managing Urban Big Data
Interactive Planning

Top: An interactive tool for modeling Ethiopia’s energy future

(Eva Friedrich / FCL)

Left: Interactive Decision Support Tool

(Antje Kunze, iA)
Collaborative Urban
Planning Platform

Value Lab I (ETH Zurich)

Value Lab II (SEC Singapore)

 Teaching
the science of cities

Top: New teaching formats (Gerhard Schnitt / FCL)

Left: Rule-based city modeling method for the early

design stage (Jan Halatsch, iA)
 Teaching
MOOC

Future Cities @ edX

https://www.edx.org/school/ethx
Thank you.