Parametric Urban Regulation Models for Predicting Development Performances

This research developed and evaluated the Parametric Urban Regulation Model (PURM) to represent urban regulations in parametric Building Information Modeling (BIM) and assess the development performances of urban regulations prior to the urban regulation adoption. The PURM was formed with the Parametric Urban Design Model (PUDM), the Parametric Urban Design Model Object (PUDO), and the Parametric Urban Design Application (PUDA).

The first contribution, representing urban regulation provisions in parametric BIM, was driven by parameterization of the urban regulation provisions with the PUDM and the PUDO. By using the parametric modeling within BIM technology, five types of PUDOs of Site, Block, Parcel, Building, and Parking were assembled to create the PUDM as a 3D urban regulation plan. The PUDOs and the PUDM visualized form implication of urban regulation provisions with the object geometry in parametric BIM.

The second contribution, testing development performances of the urban regulation provisions, was devised to articulate the advantage of the urban regulation modeling in parametric BIM. The geometrical attributes of PUDOs were expressed with the parametric relationships, so the PUDM could present a range of regulation provision values. Once the PUDM was built in parametric BIM, an energy performance analysis could be performed. The PUDAs enabled the economic analysis based on the simplified pro forma estimation method.

The third contribution, reducing ambiguity in interpretation of the urban regulation provisions, was experimented with an existing zoning regulation and 11 software prototypes of the PUDAs. Some associations among the provisions that can make the regulation interpretation complex were imbedded in the PUDAs so that a set of related provisions can be determined simultaneously. The environmental and the economic analyses made the relations among the provision values and the development performances explicit.

In the long run, the PURM can achieve benefits in comparison to conventional methods of representing urban regulations. The development performances can be assessed in explicit and direct ways, which were often unforeseen and unintended in the current practice. The PURM can potentially contribute the new platform development that encapsulates the urban plan without a static regulation tool and that improves the quality of urban planning outcomes and development conceptualization.