Urban Information Modeling Reflections on the Urban Systems Collaborative Chicago Workshop April 19, 2012

Cities are the spatial and infrastructural context in which people come together to engage in transactions with one another for a wide variety of reasons (i.e. social, civic, cultural, commercial, institutional, etc)… The underlying currency that gives rise to these transactions is information. One way of looking at cities:

Can a better understanding of the flows of urban information lead to better cities?

A map of information flows. The Chicago experiment:

The developer (Magellan) The urban designer (SOM) A key City agency (DHED) A local community group (the Grant Park Conservancy) Lakeshore East Development, Chicago, IL

Questions for Participants to Consider 1.What is the role of your group in this type of development project? 2.What information/ data do you need to fulfill your role at various points in the process? 3.What information/ data does your group generate and how? 4.How much of that information is shared with others? 5.What information are you not able to share? 6.Do you think any of the unshared data would be of value to anyone else? 7.What type of information (that is currently difficult to access) would be of great value to your group? 8.How does your group attempt to validate the quality of the information/ data that was generated and shared by your group?

The Flow Diagrams

MASTER PLANNER CITY AGENCY OR DEVELOPER LANDSCAPE ARCH. CIVIL ENGINEERS CITY AGENCIES ARCHITECTS TRANSPORTATION DECISION MAKERS DEVELOPERS ECONOMISTS ECOLOGISTS SUSTAINABILITY SMART TECHNOLOGY CLIENT COMMUNITY The Players Urban Designer (SOM)

INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT MASTER PLAN OCCUPANCY APPROVALS CONCEPTION LAND SALES / DEVELOPMENT PLANNING GOALS & PRINCIPLES SITE ANALYSISCONCEPTUAL MASTER PLAN MASTER PLAN DESIGN GUIDELINES Urban Development Process Master Plan Process Urban Designer (SOM)

Master Plan Process PLANNING GOALS & PRINCIPLES ANALYSISCONCEPTUAL MASTER PLAN MASTER PLAN DESIGN GUIDELINES Urban Designer (SOM)

PLANNING GOALS & PRINCIPLES ANALYSISCONCEPTUAL MASTER PLAN MASTER PLAN DESIGN GUIDELINES Existing site conditions Infrastructure Environmental Program / land use Past planning initiatives Neighborhood / community initiatives Regional coordination Master Plan Process Urban Designer (SOM)

PLANNING GOALS & PRINCIPLES ANALYSISCONCEPTUAL MASTER PLAN MASTER PLAN DESIGN GUIDELINES Accessibility Sustainability Diversity Open Space Compatibility Density Identity Phasing Master Plan Process Urban Designer (SOM)

PLANNING GOALS & PRINCIPLES ANALYSISCONCEPTUAL MASTER PLAN MASTER PLAN DESIGN GUIDELINES Physical development framework Land use strategy Streets and circulation Transit Open Space / Natural Systems Recreation / Amenity Infrastructure / Utilities Hieght, Density and Urban Form Phasing / Implementation Master Plan Process Urban Designer (SOM)

PLANNING GOALS & PRINCIPLES ANALYSISCONCEPTUAL MASTER PLAN MASTER PLAN DESIGN GUIDELINES Parcelization Public rights-of-way Utilities and easements Parks and open space Vehicular and pedestrian circulation Land Use and Density Building Height and Massing Phasing / Implementation Master Plan Process Urban Designer (SOM)

PLANNING GOALS & PRINCIPLES ANALYSISCONCEPTUAL MASTER PLAN MASTER PLAN DESIGN GUIDELINES Parcels Buildings -Height -Materials -Elements Public Spaces Landscape Streets Infrastructure Master Plan Process Urban Designer (SOM)

City Agency (DHED)

Community Group (Grant Park Conservancy) Where community process starts is project specific

Developer

In general, people are not accustomed to describing what they do in terms of the steps of a process. People are even less accustomed to thinking about information in a tangible way, especially as inputs and outputs of those processes. In general, everybody wants as much information as possible, as early in the process as possible (but there are valid reasons why this doesnt always happen). There are few yardsticks of success. The discussion about the participation of the community (citizen engagement) led to some of the more interesting questions. What are the limits of the communitys right to information about a private development? How does the community group leadership gain credibility amongst the community it represents? How can a community engage effectively in a design process? Bob Schloss from IBM shared some insights into the urban semantic modeling work that his team is developing. There is still work to be done to find an effective convention for capturing this idea of a map of information flows… Some Take-Aways