A dialogue toolkit for visualization of environmental data in urban planning processes from a pedestrian perspective

Research Project, 2017 – 2018

In today´s society there is an increased need for continuous stakeholder dialogue on urban development, starting early in the planning process. Digital tools such as simulation and visualization of future scenarios are increasingly used to support these processes. The potential of these tools is regarded as high, however in order to implement them the 3D-media needs to be developed. The accessibility to the enormous amount of environmental data in society is low. Invisible environmental values such as meteorological conditions, air pollution and noise are hard to present in a comprehensible way, and thus difficult to grasp. As a consequence these factors often get low priority in urban planning processes. Our aim is to develop a dialogue toolkit for visualizing environmental data to different actors in urban planning processes, in order to increase the understanding of these issues. We will develop and evaluate design concepts for visualization of different kinds of invisible environmental factors, focusing on wind, solar radiation, air pollution and noise, shown in an interactive 3D city model,primarily from a street view perspective.

Project results will support dialogues between actors in planning processes. They can furthermore be applied to other areas e.g. health, social equality, safety and architectural qualities. A visual planning tool of this kind can also be of use in local climate work, e.g. for predicting various scenarios connected to climatological factors.