Data-Informed Urban Design: An Overview of the Use of Data and Digital Tools in Urban Planning and Design

Journal article, 2020

This article aims to map how different digital tools can be useful for architects and how they might affect their work processes. Researchers and professionals were interviewed to investigate what they found valuable to measure, which methods they used within their analyses, as well
as the opportunities and risks they see for the future of the field with regards to digital tools. As part of the survey, a workshop was held with architects and project managers examining the possibilities of connecting existing methods and tools to the sustainability certification system,
City Lab Action Guide, and through that, to achieve a more ambitious set of sustainability goals for the projects. Findings from the study indicate that there are risks associated with giving data an increasingly important role in the design work. A working model never provides the full truth
but is inherently limited by its constraints. It is important to acknowledge that all angles and aspects of a problem can never be represented in a model. Another possible risk identified lies in the quality of, and access to, data. In a scenario where data plays an increasingly important
role, it is not only the quality of the datasets that is of utmost importance, but it is equally important that the urban planners who request the analyses ask the questions first, and then collect the necessary data, instead of vice versa.