Our focus is on the conceptual phase of the planning process for the built environment where a solution evolves progressively in response to specific development needs and site constraints. Taking the urban built environment as a system, issues like sustainability, security, quality of life, and economic feasibility are determined by the interaction between project elements rather the attributes of any single element. Addressing the trade-offs among these issues calls for a more exploratory, fluid and responsive planning process.
We propose the concept of Rapid Urban Prototyping (RUP) for this purpose. RUP is a goal-oriented and exploratory approach to rapidly and iteratively transform the goals of key stakeholders into viable conceptual solutions through digital prototypes. RUP draws together concepts from Goal Oriented Requirements Engineering (GORE) and Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) to manage complexity in the planning process.
The Developer, Architect/Land Planner and Engineer are the three key parties that need to collaborate in the successful development of a project. The top-level goals, set by the Developer are refined into measurable objectives and verifiable requirements by the latter two parties. From these requirements, proposals for project finance, land-use and massing, and a mobility plan based on a road network are derived and integrated into a viable solution. The proposals are described in SysML - a systems modelling language that describes both the structure and behavior of man-made technological systems. The information from the SysML model can be translated into executable/ analytical prototypes to evaluate performance on key performance indicators like Net Present Value, Net Plot Yields (Lettable, Saleable areas), Green Plot Ratio, average travel time, and traffic congestion indicators.A prototype focuses on a subset of the details in a systems model. RUP proposes to use financial spreadsheets, Geographic Information System and traffic simulation models to realize prototypes. Tests using the prototypes are used to verify if the requirements are met. The SysML model can be revised either to improve the performance of the solution or if certain requirements are not met. This leads to further iterations of the RUP process when the design solution, requirements or goals can be changed. The paper describes the RUP framework that enables traceability between goals, requirements, system model, and prototypes, thus enabling a more fluid exploratory process during the conceptual design phase. An example based on a project for the Jurong Innovation District is used to illustrate RUP in use, and how traceability can be accomplished.
Civil (Construction) Information Modeling (CIM) , Urban/environmental planning and Architecture
