“Visual simulation of the interaction between market demand, planning rules and city form”

City form is determined by a complex mixture of economic forces, legal rules, physical constraints and purposeful design. A novel method for rapidly generating large 3D urban environments is presented which takes all four factors into account. This technique parametrically allocates and symbolizes buildings in appropriate spatial patterns, requiring only commonly available coarse-scale data. A prototype system is demonstrated that takes as inputs population estimates, attractiveness and zoning maps. The system generates building geometry within a real-time visual simulator. Any of these inputs can be changed “on the fly” to test the effects of typical planning policy alterations such as zoning density or height limitations.