Kheir Al-Kodmany

Visualization Tools and Methods in Community Planning: From Freehand Sketches to Virtual Reality

As new computerized visualization tools become available, planning professionals who engage in public participation planning must have a practical understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of each tool in order to choose the ones appropriate for a given context. This article reviews both traditional and computerized visualization tools and attempts to provide a general map for planners as they navigate through the multitude of options that currently exist for visualization in public participation planning. The article is organized around a conceptual model that shows the relationship between eight visualization tools (four traditional and four computerized) and two types of communication media.

Visualization Tools and Methods for Participatory Planning and Design

(2001). Visualization Tools and Methods for Participatory Planning and Design. Journal of Urban Technology: Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 1-37.

Online tools for public participation

Abstract This paper describes an interactive Web-based survey tool that was developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago to advance a community planning process. The team used a process taken from the work of Jack Nasar (1998) that involves surveying residents to create an “evaluative image” of the community that could guide future design and development. While Nasar’s original method used a phone survey, UIC researchers developed a Web site through which participants interacted with a map that was linked through a server to a GIS program. This project builds upon an earlier version of the survey by increasing the complexity and the coverage area of the interactive map (Al-Kodmany, 2000) .

Public Participation: Technology and Democracy

Abstract Computerized visualization methods offer planners and architects some new ways to support and facilitate democratic decision-making. However, the uses of this technology in public participation are just beginning to be explored. This paper describes a community planning process in which a combination of high- and low-tech visualization methods—a Geographic Information System (GIS) and a human artist—was used to increase public participation and draw out local knowledge.

Residential visual privacy: Traditional and modern architecture and urban design

Abstract Colonial rule in the early to mid 1900s brought to the Middle East, as to other non‐Western cultures, a deluge of Western values, new technology and urban design. This study examines residential visual privacy in two middle‐class neighbourhoods in Damascus, one, based on its architecture and urban design, considered to be ‘traditional’, and the other ‘modern’. Findings indicate that despite significant cultural changes and subcultural differences between the compared groups, the majority of women regard visual privacy at home from outsiders as extremely important. Women surveyed who live in the modern neighbourhood often modify the original design of their homes in order to increase the level of privacy. Thus, current urban design practices and ordinances resulting in the development of the modern sections of Damascus do not adequately meet womens desired level of visual privacy. This study concludes that urban designers need to understand and incorporate core values of the culture in which they...

Using Web-Based Technologies and Geographic Information Systems in Community Planning

influential ideas presented by the planner and urban designer Kevin Lynch in his classic work, The Image of the City. Both authors stress that the public’s image of a city is valuable to city planners and urban designers and that the most important measure of city form is the evaluation by those people who live in it, work in it, and experience it on a daily basis. This case study utilizes a Web-based survey as a tool to discover public preferences that can be used as a guide in shaping and reshaping neighborhood design. Though city design is often placed in the realm of “art,” Nasar argues that this emphasis is not appropriate. “Though we may accept the idea of ‘high’ visual arts that appeal to a narrow audience who choose to visit a museum, city form and appearance 2 must satisfy the broader public who regularly experience it” (2). Unlike art, literature, and music, which an observer can choose to experience or not, city design does not afford an observer such a choice. In their daily activities, people must pass through and experience public areas of the city. By studying what kind of evaluative image a community has of its own city form, planners can derive valuable information for the planning, design, and management of desirable surroundings. Nasar further argues that public preferences about urban form are often quite different from what professional planners and designers believe. Research has shown that design professionals (outsiders) HE case study and the planning method described in this paper are based on the work of Jack Nasar, who, in his book The Evaluative Image of the City, builds upon the

Tall Buildings, Design, and Technology: Visions for the Twenty-First Century City

The world population will drastically increase in the future, particularly in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Even in Europe, where some cities are experiencing a negative growth rate, on the whole the population will steadily increase. In Australia and Canada, as well, population will steadily increase, although in the United States the growth rate will be higher because of the influx of immigrants and natural growth. Thus, the threat of overpopulation is looming over the entire world. It is expected that the urban population will almost double in the coming 40 years: it will increase from 3.5 billion in 2010 to 6.5 billion in 2050 worldwide (United Nations, 2007). The migration of the rural population to cities is a major cause of this increase. People want to move where there are other people, din and bustle, a flurry of activities, social and recreational services, and above all employment opportunities. Once people get used to urban living, they rarely go back to the country side. Therefore, urban planners, architects, developers, social scientists, and political leaders have to ask the following hard questions: • What can be done with existing cities in order to accommodate the increase in the urban population? • How should cities be regenerated; and how can new cities be built? • Can cities expand laterally without sprawling and destroying valuable agricultural land? • Will a vertical expansion be a viable option? This paper examines these questions by studying tall buildings and associated technological developments, and their impact on cities. It first provides an historical account on the early development of tall buildings. Next, it examines visionary tall building projects proposed by architects and urban planners from various parts of the world. Then, the paper engages the reader in a discussion on the issue of height limit from economic, technological, and ego perspectives. The paper closes by emphasizing the significant role of tall and supertall buildings in twenty-first-century cities.

Web-based Tools and Interfaces for Participatory Planning and Design

This chapter addresses the growing interest in using screen-based maps on the Internet for collaborative planning and design. Specifically, it introduces six prototype web interfaces that invite users to read maps of their community and then make selections and type in comments in order to provide feedback into a planning process. Each of the six prototypes highlights a different tool or feature for navigating or making selections on online maps. New web technology has made it possible to create map-based surveys to receive feedback from the general public, but it is not yet clear what kind of graphic design alternatives and digital map designs and tools are the most useful for novice map-readers. This chapter describes several different interface designs with the purpose of finding which combinations of online tools and maps are most productive in soliciting feedback in a community planning process. The goal is to explore how web-based maps can be advanced beyond mere information provision to actual two-way interaction with the public. Tools such as free-hand drawing may provide new avenues for people to take a greater role in public decisionmaking. Examples are presented of solutions to the basic problems of creating interactive screen-based maps, which include navigating large geographic area maps and making selections on maps.

Planning for the Hajj: Political Power, Pragmatism, and Participatory GIS

The Hajj is an annual Muslim pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. This article describes the politics and planning involved in building a geographic information system (GIS) that can help in the planning of this massive event. Hajj involves 3 million people moving to multiple sites over a large region at different times. More than 20 agencies are involved in planning, preparing and running Hajj. Hajj is important to the Saudi government for religious, political and economic reasons, and the Saudi leaders have invested heavily in research and planning to solve problems associated with Hajj. One initiative to aid in collaborative planning is the development of a GIS. Developing the GIS proved problematic, however. Although there was political support for a GIS that contained complete data about every aspect of Hajj and the cities involved, such a database would be expensive and impractical to construct. A more pragmatic approach was to collect the most complete and useful data that could practically be obtained. Although the geospatial database building process is unfinished, the project experience thus far highlights the need for decision makers to be aware of the complex dynamics that political power discrepancies pose. Although there are times when exercising political power can help stimulate forces and optimize resources, there are also times when a power imbalance is counterproductive. Power can help gain allies and strengthen relationships, but power can also rupture these alliances and relationships. By being aware of the intricacies of power, decision makers can deal with them tactfully in order to reach the final goal.

An Overview of Structural and Aesthetic Developments in Tall Buildings Using Exterior Bracing and Diagrid Systems

There is much architectural and engineering literature which discusses the virtues of exterior bracing and diagrid systems in regards to sustainability - two systems which generally reduce building materials, enhance structural performance, and decrease overall construction cost. By surveying past, present as well as possible future towers, this paper examines another attribute of these structural systems - the blend of structural functionality and aesthetics. Given the external nature of these structural systems, diagrids and exterior bracings can visually communicate the inherent structural logic of a building while also serving as a medium for artistic effect. Viewed in this light, the visual appeal of these systems can be enhanced to give a tower a more distinct urban identity. This entails the creation of structural elements that are aesthetically pleasing, geometrically coherent and that demonstrate dexterity of application in regards to a buildings composition, while also respecting the laws of physics and mechanics. In this fashion, an artistic approach can exhibit structural systems as not just purely rational features that enable the construction of tall buildings, but as important visual components that afford opportunities for creative expression. This paper, therefore, synthesizes the concepts of structural performance and creative artistry to facilitate a better understanding of the aesthetic developments in skyscrapers worldwide.