developments. These range from traditional 2D Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and cadastral databases to 3D models of individual buildings, and visualisations of town centres. However, Welcome, and thank you for your interest while it is now possible to construct a in the UrbanIT project. This work is being digital model of a proposed building to conducted at the City Futures Research visually present these together with Centre at the University of New South associated databases on building Wales. This project is funded by a Linkage performance and construction, it is not yet Grant awarded by the Australian possible to integrate this information with Research Council (ARC). Our industry the cadastral based datasets commonly partners are the NSW Department of used by planners. With better data Planning, City of Council and harmonisation planners will be able to Landcom. harness this rich source of information to effectively measure the outcomes of The central aim of this project is to planning proposals. demonstrate that a better information framework can be exploited to support BUILDING INFORMATION MODELLING better decision-making and successful The UrbanIT project will focus on the management of metropolitan development emerging technology of Building in . This can be developed Information Modelling (BIM) in order to through effective integration of diverse apply the same principles to urban sources of geographic, demographic and modelling. In BIM, the building is seen as planning information. This research has a complex assembly of objects that national relevance for all organisations represent both the physical fabric of the and groups responsible for the structure (walls, slabs, doors, fixtures, etc) management of Australia’s urban fabric. and conceptual objects such as spaces, THE CHALLENGE OF PLANNING storeys, functional zones and sites. This permits the objects, and the relationships SYDNEY’S FUTURE or dependencies that exist between them, As Australian cities continue to grow in the to be explicitly represented within the context of complex social, environmental model, allowing a wide range of and economic forces, it is critical that systematic analyses to be undertaken to metropolitan managers have the tools to test and evaluate the design proposal. In ensure correct decision-making. Major the literature, this is referred to as urban renewal programs are being semantic modelling (for example, Kalay planned in many Australian metropolitan 1998) because it allows us to capture the areas where established town centres are deeper meaning of the real-world entities recast to accommodate higher density that we are modelling. mixed use development in an effort to To take advantage of BIM for design accommodate the proposed growth of the analysis at the scale of a single building, city. These plans involve intensive an effective way is required to share the transformations of urban space, but there rich model data between a range of is not yet a robust way of accessing the analysis tools. The most promising current multiplicity of data needed to assist development to support that data sharing planners and developers assess the likely is the building model schema known as outcomes of such redevelopments. In Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) reality, the building blocks of such data developed by the International Alliance for sets are already in use: architects, Interoperability (IAI). This is an object developers and planners already use a database schema that provides an variety of computer based spatial data accurate representation of a building formats to describe and assess new UrbanIT - IT enabled urban planning, management & analysis project to support the design and the CityGML, SIG-3D in Germany have management of that facility throughout its begun to look at using IFC to support rich complete life cycle (IAI 2005). A notable urban data modelling, and they too will be application of this technology in the urban collaborating with this research. management domain is Singapore’s EFFECTIVE URBAN INFORMATION CORENET e-PlanCheck system (Maïssa MODELLING et al. 2002), which carries out automated building code compliance checking The key question is how to link GIS and through a single portal integrating IFC- 3D visualisation modelling together to formatted building submissions for over 12 create an effective planning tool. regulatory agencies. Members of our research team have completed some preliminary work in this This technology creates an opportunity for area (see Barton, Plume & Parolin 2005), the development of a whole suite of new and this work highlighted the need for computer tools that can access BIM data better integration of data. GIS are the and undertake multiple analyses. These traditional tools used in urban planning can cover initial planning areas ranging and management. Although this provides from issues of urban ecology, urban for sound systematic analysis, the data for sustainability, transport planning, an effective urban management GIS must demographic change and economic be drawn from a range of government development. In addition, the technology instrumentalities. These data are not provides a platform for the efficient always current or accurate, and may be management of traditional planning and held at an inappropriate level of detail. A development processes such as recent trend to supplement GIS analysis is development and building approvals. to develop 3D city models that collect Already, the Norwegian Directorate of cadastral, topographical and CAD data Public Construction and Property and combine these with aerial imagery to (Statsbygg) are building a system (known visualise urban landscapes. In 2000, the as Byggsøk) that is based on the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis Singapore code-checker and extends the (CASA) conducted a comprehensive permit process to include Development survey and reviewed over 60 such models Approval with a preliminary integration of (Batty et al. 2000). They found that there GIS and planning data. Our proposed are a plurality of techniques and research will extend this Norwegian approaches to 3D city modelling in use initiative into the domain of urban analysis today, but showed that while they begin to and policy development by demonstrating address the fundamental need for how the data harvested through the integrated information by permitting development approval processes can be visualisation of that descriptive data, most integrated into an on-going strategic failed to have an impact on urban planning assessment process. Statsbygg management because the data was purely have indicated strong support for our visual. The models provide little project. More recently, the group behind opportunity to carry out the essential

UrbanIT - IT enabled urban planning, management & analysis social, economic and environmental CONTACT analysis needed to create sustainable cities. The capacity of these models to John Mitchell assist in complex decision-making is City Futures Research Centre limited by their lack of ability to harness Faculty of the Built Environment more meaningful information about the University of geographic areas they represent. Sydney NSW 2052 Australia [email protected] Phone: +61 (2) 9385 6821

Jack Barton City Futures Research Centre CREDENTIALS Faculty of the Built Environment University of New South Wales Our research team has strong credentials Sydney NSW 2052 Australia to address these issues and the UrbanIT [email protected] project builds on recent research in this Phone: +61 (2) 9385 5309 area by members of the research team. For instance, work recently undertaken by the City Futures Research Centre for the REFERENCES City of Penrith Council (Randolph and Barton, J., Plume, J. and Parolin, B., 2005, "Public Participation in a Spatial Decision Support System for Holloway, 2005) piloted a framework Public Housing", Computers, Environment and Urban whereby redevelopment proposals can be Systems, ed Longley, P.A. assessed in terms of their likely social Batty, M., Chapman, D., Evans, S., Haklay, M., Kueppers, S., Shiode, N., Smith, A., Torrens, P., 2000. outcomes based on census profiling linked Visualising the City: Communicating Urban Design to to cadastral based 3D visualisations of Planners and Decision Makers, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA), University College London. these proposals. Similarly, research for a IAI, 2005. International Alliance for Interoperability, recent ARC Linkage project undertaken by http://www.iai-international.org Randolph and colleagues (Randolph et.al, Kalay, Y.E. 1998. P3: “Computational environment to support design collaboration”, Automation in 2007) modelled the water and energy Construction, 8(1), 37-48. consumption of 12 housing estates in Maïssa, S., Frachet, J.P., Lombardo, J.C., Bourdeau, M., Sydney, providing a methodology for Soubra, S. 2002. “Regulation checking in a Virtual Building”, International Council for Research and incorporating data on environmental Innovation in Building and Construction. CIB w78 impacts into the proposed 3D framework. conference 2002. CSTB / ENSAM, 12 – 14 June 2002 Randolph, B. and Holloway, D. 2005. Urban Growth These research initiatives highlight the Management in Penrith Stage 2: Planning for the potential benefit for planners if Needs of Existing and Future Communities in Penrith - comparable spatial information could be Full Report Commissioned by Penrith City Council. integrated into a live 3D urban model that Randolph, B., Holloway, D., Pullen, S. and Troy, P. 2007. is kept up-to-date through a range of The Environmental Impacts of Residential planning processes, providing an Development: Case Studies of 12 Estates in Sydney Final Report of ARC Linkage Project LP0348770, information-rich spatial model of the city. Linkage Partner: Landcom,