Canadian communities have set aggressive economic, environmental and social sustainability targets. Meeting these targets requires better, faster and less expensive ways of evaluating design options and tradeoffs against the most important performance measures (e.g., cost, energy consumption, quality of life).

Co-Investigators Ronald Kellett and Dr. Maged Senbel have worked closely together to lead investigations of neighbourhood scale planning and urban design processes as well as develop the indicators and metrics through which processes and their results can be measured and compared. They have worked closely with project partners at the University of British Columbia (Campus and Community Planning, University Sustainability Initiative), the City of Vancouver (Marpole and Grandview Woodland Community Plans) and the City of Richmond (energy and emissions policy simulations for the Richmond City Centre plan).

Outcomes have included:

• elementsdb+CityEngine
  This is an adaptation of elementsdb cases to CityEngine, the three-dimensional (3D) procedural modeling environment developed by ESRI. This prototype uses CityEngine’s parametric rule structure to automates the adaptation, replication and visualization of the geometric attributes of elementsdb cases to local site planning rules such as parcel size, orientation, building height, coverage and setbacks.
  

• Measured Visualizations for Marpole
  elementslab provided workshops and urban design metrics and visualizations of contemplated land use planning in support of the ongoing Marpole Community Plan. The work elevates understandings of the city’s land use proposals for staff, city council, and community stakeholders. You can read more about this project here.