José P. Duarte holds a professional degree in Architecture from the Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal, a Master in Design Methods and a PhD in Design and Computation from MIT, USA. Currently he is Chair in Design Innovation and Director of the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing at Penn State University, USA. He was Dean and Professor at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Lisbon, and President of eCAADe - education and research in computer aided architectural design in Europe. Supervisors: William J. Mitchell, Terry Knight, George Stiny, and Patrick Winston
""Urban planning and design have a considerable impact on the economic performance of cities and ... more ""Urban planning and design have a considerable impact on the economic performance of cities and on the quality of life of the population. Efficiency at this level is hampered by the lack of integrated instruments for formulating, generating, and evaluating urban plans. This chapter describes the theoretical foundations of a research project, called City Induction, aimed at the creation of a model for the development of such an instrument, departing from existing theories, which are integrated through a discursive grammar. The proposed model is composed of three sub-models: (1) a model for formulating urban programs from the analysis and interpretation of the context, based on Alexander’s pattern language; (2) a model for generating urban plans that match the program, based on Stiny’s shape and description grammars; and (3) a model for evaluating urban plans, that can be used for analyzing, comparing and ranking alternative solutions, departing from Hillier’s space syntax. A common urban space ontology guarantees the syntactic and semantic interoperability among the three sub-models. This ontology will be used to structure and codify information into a Geographic Information System (GIS), which will be the kernel for the computer implementation of the larger model. A CAD system is used to construct 3D models from contextual information stored in the GIS. In short, following Stiny and March’s design machines concept, the goal is to create an urban design machine that is able to produce flexible urban plans at the site planning level.
Financiamento: FCT, PTDC/AUR/64384/2006. Equipa: José P. Duarte, 3 bolseiros, IST; José Beirão, Nuno Montenegro, FAUTL; Jorge Gil, Space Syntax Limited. Consultores: R. Stouffs, TU/Delft; G. Stiny, J. Ferreira, MIT; Bill Hillier, Bartlett School; Mário Krueger, U. Coimbra. Papel: coordenador. Publicações: Thesis: 3; Int. Jrnl. Art.: 2; Int. Conf. Art.: 15; Int. Book Chap.: 3; Nat. Conf. Art.: 2; Conf. Proc.: 1."
PTDC/AUR/64384/2006
KEY WORDS: Urban model, Ontology, Space syntax, Shape grammars
Communications in Computer and Information Science, 2019
The purpose of this study is to analyze William Hajjar’s single-family houses in State College, P... more The purpose of this study is to analyze William Hajjar’s single-family houses in State College, PA, and compare them with the European modernist work of Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer in the United States. This analysis is performed using shape grammars as a computational design methodology. Hajjar was a member of the architecture faculty at the Pennsylvania State University, a practitioner in State College, and an influential figure in the history of architecture in the area. Shape grammars are used specifically to verify and describe the influences of Bauhaus/European modernism on Hajjar’s domestic architecture. The focus is on establishing Hajjar’s single-family architectural language and comparing it to the architectural language of Gropius (Gropius-Breuer partnership) as the founder of the Bauhaus architecture and a prominent practitioner in introducing European modernism to American architecture students in the mid-twentieth century like Hajjar.
Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing, 2021
This paper discusses the development of an experimental software prototype that uses surrogate mo... more This paper discusses the development of an experimental software prototype that uses surrogate models for predicting the monthly energy consumption of urban-scale community design scenarios in real time. The surrogate models were prepared by training artificial neural networks on datasets of urban form and monthly energy consumption values of all zip codes in San Diego county. The surrogate models were then used as the simulation engine of a generative urban design tool, which generates hypothetical communities in San Diego following the county's existing urban typologies and then estimates the monthly energy consumption value of each generated design option. This paper and developed software prototype is part of a larger research project that evaluates the energy performance of community microgrids via their urban spatial configurations. This prototype takes the first step in introducing a new set of tools for architects and urban designers with the goal of engaging them in the...
Communications in Computer and Information Science, 2019
Existing floor planning algorithms are mostly limited to rectangular room geometries. This restri... more Existing floor planning algorithms are mostly limited to rectangular room geometries. This restriction is a significant reason why they are not used much in design practice. To address this issue, we propose an algorithm (based on graph theoretic tools) that generates rectangular and, if required, orthogonal floor plans while satisfying the given adjacency requirements. If a floor plan does not exist for the given adjacency requirements, we introduce circulations within a floor plan to have a required floor plan.
This article summarizes the essentials of the design research path that led to the collaborative ... more This article summarizes the essentials of the design research path that led to the collaborative and interactive intelligence platform Inspaedia. Firstly, it discusses the concepts and contexts that favor innovation to understand the importance of entrepreneurship, exploring successful business models and identifying trends and patterns of excellence; some inspirational riffs to inspire other organizational contexts are selected; there is a review of authors who have emphasized the importance of designing and developing user-oriented business models – or rather, producers that are at the same time consumers (prosumers), connected by collaborative intelligence networks; creative and collaborative cognition in design is explored by presenting some strategies to activate divergent thinking, and the conceptual model of Inspaedia is described. Secondly, the article contextualizes and describes the research journey to redefine and simplify the conceptual model to bring the online platform to life. Finally, the results obtained and the feedback given by some inspaediers are presented.
The following paper describes the process and results achieved with the workshop entitled ‘Re-inv... more The following paper describes the process and results achieved with the workshop entitled ‘Re-inventing Portuguese ceramic tiles’ reflecting on design methodology and design teaching. Workshop participants were invited to rethink ceramic tile patterns developing a different process which used shape grammars as a generative system. Each participant group developed a three stage task using shape grammars principles and methodology. The preliminary results the work developed are of particular relevance in shape grammar research: firstly shape grammar formulae does not constitute an intuitive process to most creative designers which are often trained to design singular solutions for a specific problem, secondly more than one operative shape grammar can be formulated to represent the same corpus of solutions and lastly the generative potential of grammars transcends the normal capacities of the original grammarist aiding in design exploration and enlarging the corpus of feasible solution...
The European Commission proposed a recast to the Energy Efficiency Directive with a target of 30%... more The European Commission proposed a recast to the Energy Efficiency Directive with a target of 30% energy efficiency for 2030. Buildings are the largest energy consumers sector in EU. To reduce the energy consumption of existing buildings and promote energy efficiency retrofit, it is important to improve the thermal performance of the building envelope, acting on thermal bridges to enhance the optimal thermal comfort for building occupants. In this work, a customized solution is proposed combining IR thermography and a generative computer tool to design a functionally graded insulation layer tailored to specific conditions, resulting in a material efficient design reducing weight and material usage. AM technologies were then used to produce a scaled prototype.
3D-printing of cementitious materials is an innovative construction approach with which building ... more 3D-printing of cementitious materials is an innovative construction approach with which building elements can be constructed without the use of formwork. Despite potential benefits in the construction industry, it introduces various engineering challenges from the material point of view. This paper reviews the properties of extrusion-based 3D-printed cementitious materials in both fresh and hardened states. Four main properties of fresh-state printing materials are addressed: flowability, extrudability, buildability, and open time, along with hardened properties, including density, compressive strength, flexural strength, tensile bond strength, shrinkage, and cracking. Experimental testing and effective factors of each property are covered, and a mix design procedure is proposed. The main objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the recent development in 3D-printing of cementitious materials and to identify the research gaps that need further investigation.
This paper discusses adding a spatial dimension to the design of community microgrid projects in ... more This paper discusses adding a spatial dimension to the design of community microgrid projects in the interest of expanding the existing discourse related to energy performance optimization measures. A multidimensional vision for designing community microgrids with higher energy performance is considered, leveraging urban form (superstructure) to understand how it impacts the performance of the system’s distributed energy resources and loads (infrastructure). This vision engages the design sector in the technical conversation of developing community microgrids, leading to energy efficient designs of microgrid-connected communities well before their construction. A new generation of computational modeling and simulation tools that address this interaction are required. In order to position the research, this paper presents a survey of existing software packages, belonging to two distinct categories of modeling, simulation, and evaluation of community microgrids: the energy infrastruct...
A ideia de fazer uma chamada específica da revista PARC com o tema do detalhamento arquitetônico ... more A ideia de fazer uma chamada específica da revista PARC com o tema do detalhamento arquitetônico surgiu a partir de dois acontecimentos no primeiro semestre de 2013. O primeiro foi o oferecimento da disciplina de Prototipagem e Fabricação Digital, em que se procurou explorar a relação entre o processo de detalhamento e o uso das novas tecnologias CAD/CAM, no programa de pós-graduação da Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FEC) da Unicamp em Arquitetura, Tecnologia e Cidade (ATC). O segundo acontecimento foi a realização do congresso Sustainable Intelligent Manufacturing (SIM), de 26 a 29 de junho, na Faculdade de Arquitectura (FA) da Universidade de Lisboa, reunindo designers, arquitetos e representantes da indústria que utiliza alta tecnologia. A chamada se estendeu por vários meses, e não foi nada fácil localizar pesquisadores que já tivessem algum material produzido sobre este assunto tão novo. Nossos pareceristas realizaram um trabalho criterioso para garanti...
We hereby focus the study of the Albertian column system, as part of the Digital Alberti project,... more We hereby focus the study of the Albertian column system, as part of the Digital Alberti project, a research initiative that aims to shed some light on the influence of Alberti on Portuguese architecture. Starting from Alberti’s treatise on architecture, De Re Aedificatoria, and its translation into Portuguese, Da Arte Edificatória, a generative computational model was developed that encodes Alberti’s prescriptions about the elements of the column system, as well as their proportions and shapes. This research complements the elaboration of the corresponding shape grammar on Alberti’s column system. This project is a paradigmatic example of the use of digital technology for understanding architectural tradition. The development of the referred models implied deepening the understanding of Alberti’s rules about the column elements. This in-depth analysis revealed a very coherent hierarchical structure ruling the relationships among the several elements. It also revealed that informat...
This paper presents the optimisation step in a grammar-based generative design system for the mas... more This paper presents the optimisation step in a grammar-based generative design system for the mass customisation of furniture. The ongoing research assesses the use of integrated CAD-CAE tools in the development of a digital design process involving closer collaboration between design and engineering as a feasible motivation for optimum designs. The optimisation of structural behaviour is illustrated by a series of experiments using a simulated annealing algorithm to explore solutions for custom chairs generated by parametric models. Constraints are defined according to the aesthetic considerations established in the design language. The paper concludes with a discussion of the effective use of integrated performance tools in furniture design methodology in the age of mass customisation.
""Urban planning and design have a considerable impact on the economic performance of cities and ... more ""Urban planning and design have a considerable impact on the economic performance of cities and on the quality of life of the population. Efficiency at this level is hampered by the lack of integrated instruments for formulating, generating, and evaluating urban plans. This chapter describes the theoretical foundations of a research project, called City Induction, aimed at the creation of a model for the development of such an instrument, departing from existing theories, which are integrated through a discursive grammar. The proposed model is composed of three sub-models: (1) a model for formulating urban programs from the analysis and interpretation of the context, based on Alexander’s pattern language; (2) a model for generating urban plans that match the program, based on Stiny’s shape and description grammars; and (3) a model for evaluating urban plans, that can be used for analyzing, comparing and ranking alternative solutions, departing from Hillier’s space syntax. A common urban space ontology guarantees the syntactic and semantic interoperability among the three sub-models. This ontology will be used to structure and codify information into a Geographic Information System (GIS), which will be the kernel for the computer implementation of the larger model. A CAD system is used to construct 3D models from contextual information stored in the GIS. In short, following Stiny and March’s design machines concept, the goal is to create an urban design machine that is able to produce flexible urban plans at the site planning level.
Financiamento: FCT, PTDC/AUR/64384/2006. Equipa: José P. Duarte, 3 bolseiros, IST; José Beirão, Nuno Montenegro, FAUTL; Jorge Gil, Space Syntax Limited. Consultores: R. Stouffs, TU/Delft; G. Stiny, J. Ferreira, MIT; Bill Hillier, Bartlett School; Mário Krueger, U. Coimbra. Papel: coordenador. Publicações: Thesis: 3; Int. Jrnl. Art.: 2; Int. Conf. Art.: 15; Int. Book Chap.: 3; Nat. Conf. Art.: 2; Conf. Proc.: 1."
PTDC/AUR/64384/2006
KEY WORDS: Urban model, Ontology, Space syntax, Shape grammars
Communications in Computer and Information Science, 2019
The purpose of this study is to analyze William Hajjar’s single-family houses in State College, P... more The purpose of this study is to analyze William Hajjar’s single-family houses in State College, PA, and compare them with the European modernist work of Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer in the United States. This analysis is performed using shape grammars as a computational design methodology. Hajjar was a member of the architecture faculty at the Pennsylvania State University, a practitioner in State College, and an influential figure in the history of architecture in the area. Shape grammars are used specifically to verify and describe the influences of Bauhaus/European modernism on Hajjar’s domestic architecture. The focus is on establishing Hajjar’s single-family architectural language and comparing it to the architectural language of Gropius (Gropius-Breuer partnership) as the founder of the Bauhaus architecture and a prominent practitioner in introducing European modernism to American architecture students in the mid-twentieth century like Hajjar.
Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing, 2021
This paper discusses the development of an experimental software prototype that uses surrogate mo... more This paper discusses the development of an experimental software prototype that uses surrogate models for predicting the monthly energy consumption of urban-scale community design scenarios in real time. The surrogate models were prepared by training artificial neural networks on datasets of urban form and monthly energy consumption values of all zip codes in San Diego county. The surrogate models were then used as the simulation engine of a generative urban design tool, which generates hypothetical communities in San Diego following the county's existing urban typologies and then estimates the monthly energy consumption value of each generated design option. This paper and developed software prototype is part of a larger research project that evaluates the energy performance of community microgrids via their urban spatial configurations. This prototype takes the first step in introducing a new set of tools for architects and urban designers with the goal of engaging them in the...
Communications in Computer and Information Science, 2019
Existing floor planning algorithms are mostly limited to rectangular room geometries. This restri... more Existing floor planning algorithms are mostly limited to rectangular room geometries. This restriction is a significant reason why they are not used much in design practice. To address this issue, we propose an algorithm (based on graph theoretic tools) that generates rectangular and, if required, orthogonal floor plans while satisfying the given adjacency requirements. If a floor plan does not exist for the given adjacency requirements, we introduce circulations within a floor plan to have a required floor plan.
This article summarizes the essentials of the design research path that led to the collaborative ... more This article summarizes the essentials of the design research path that led to the collaborative and interactive intelligence platform Inspaedia. Firstly, it discusses the concepts and contexts that favor innovation to understand the importance of entrepreneurship, exploring successful business models and identifying trends and patterns of excellence; some inspirational riffs to inspire other organizational contexts are selected; there is a review of authors who have emphasized the importance of designing and developing user-oriented business models – or rather, producers that are at the same time consumers (prosumers), connected by collaborative intelligence networks; creative and collaborative cognition in design is explored by presenting some strategies to activate divergent thinking, and the conceptual model of Inspaedia is described. Secondly, the article contextualizes and describes the research journey to redefine and simplify the conceptual model to bring the online platform to life. Finally, the results obtained and the feedback given by some inspaediers are presented.
The following paper describes the process and results achieved with the workshop entitled ‘Re-inv... more The following paper describes the process and results achieved with the workshop entitled ‘Re-inventing Portuguese ceramic tiles’ reflecting on design methodology and design teaching. Workshop participants were invited to rethink ceramic tile patterns developing a different process which used shape grammars as a generative system. Each participant group developed a three stage task using shape grammars principles and methodology. The preliminary results the work developed are of particular relevance in shape grammar research: firstly shape grammar formulae does not constitute an intuitive process to most creative designers which are often trained to design singular solutions for a specific problem, secondly more than one operative shape grammar can be formulated to represent the same corpus of solutions and lastly the generative potential of grammars transcends the normal capacities of the original grammarist aiding in design exploration and enlarging the corpus of feasible solution...
The European Commission proposed a recast to the Energy Efficiency Directive with a target of 30%... more The European Commission proposed a recast to the Energy Efficiency Directive with a target of 30% energy efficiency for 2030. Buildings are the largest energy consumers sector in EU. To reduce the energy consumption of existing buildings and promote energy efficiency retrofit, it is important to improve the thermal performance of the building envelope, acting on thermal bridges to enhance the optimal thermal comfort for building occupants. In this work, a customized solution is proposed combining IR thermography and a generative computer tool to design a functionally graded insulation layer tailored to specific conditions, resulting in a material efficient design reducing weight and material usage. AM technologies were then used to produce a scaled prototype.
3D-printing of cementitious materials is an innovative construction approach with which building ... more 3D-printing of cementitious materials is an innovative construction approach with which building elements can be constructed without the use of formwork. Despite potential benefits in the construction industry, it introduces various engineering challenges from the material point of view. This paper reviews the properties of extrusion-based 3D-printed cementitious materials in both fresh and hardened states. Four main properties of fresh-state printing materials are addressed: flowability, extrudability, buildability, and open time, along with hardened properties, including density, compressive strength, flexural strength, tensile bond strength, shrinkage, and cracking. Experimental testing and effective factors of each property are covered, and a mix design procedure is proposed. The main objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the recent development in 3D-printing of cementitious materials and to identify the research gaps that need further investigation.
This paper discusses adding a spatial dimension to the design of community microgrid projects in ... more This paper discusses adding a spatial dimension to the design of community microgrid projects in the interest of expanding the existing discourse related to energy performance optimization measures. A multidimensional vision for designing community microgrids with higher energy performance is considered, leveraging urban form (superstructure) to understand how it impacts the performance of the system’s distributed energy resources and loads (infrastructure). This vision engages the design sector in the technical conversation of developing community microgrids, leading to energy efficient designs of microgrid-connected communities well before their construction. A new generation of computational modeling and simulation tools that address this interaction are required. In order to position the research, this paper presents a survey of existing software packages, belonging to two distinct categories of modeling, simulation, and evaluation of community microgrids: the energy infrastruct...
A ideia de fazer uma chamada específica da revista PARC com o tema do detalhamento arquitetônico ... more A ideia de fazer uma chamada específica da revista PARC com o tema do detalhamento arquitetônico surgiu a partir de dois acontecimentos no primeiro semestre de 2013. O primeiro foi o oferecimento da disciplina de Prototipagem e Fabricação Digital, em que se procurou explorar a relação entre o processo de detalhamento e o uso das novas tecnologias CAD/CAM, no programa de pós-graduação da Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo (FEC) da Unicamp em Arquitetura, Tecnologia e Cidade (ATC). O segundo acontecimento foi a realização do congresso Sustainable Intelligent Manufacturing (SIM), de 26 a 29 de junho, na Faculdade de Arquitectura (FA) da Universidade de Lisboa, reunindo designers, arquitetos e representantes da indústria que utiliza alta tecnologia. A chamada se estendeu por vários meses, e não foi nada fácil localizar pesquisadores que já tivessem algum material produzido sobre este assunto tão novo. Nossos pareceristas realizaram um trabalho criterioso para garanti...
We hereby focus the study of the Albertian column system, as part of the Digital Alberti project,... more We hereby focus the study of the Albertian column system, as part of the Digital Alberti project, a research initiative that aims to shed some light on the influence of Alberti on Portuguese architecture. Starting from Alberti’s treatise on architecture, De Re Aedificatoria, and its translation into Portuguese, Da Arte Edificatória, a generative computational model was developed that encodes Alberti’s prescriptions about the elements of the column system, as well as their proportions and shapes. This research complements the elaboration of the corresponding shape grammar on Alberti’s column system. This project is a paradigmatic example of the use of digital technology for understanding architectural tradition. The development of the referred models implied deepening the understanding of Alberti’s rules about the column elements. This in-depth analysis revealed a very coherent hierarchical structure ruling the relationships among the several elements. It also revealed that informat...
This paper presents the optimisation step in a grammar-based generative design system for the mas... more This paper presents the optimisation step in a grammar-based generative design system for the mass customisation of furniture. The ongoing research assesses the use of integrated CAD-CAE tools in the development of a digital design process involving closer collaboration between design and engineering as a feasible motivation for optimum designs. The optimisation of structural behaviour is illustrated by a series of experiments using a simulated annealing algorithm to explore solutions for custom chairs generated by parametric models. Constraints are defined according to the aesthetic considerations established in the design language. The paper concludes with a discussion of the effective use of integrated performance tools in furniture design methodology in the age of mass customisation.
Environment And Planning B: Urban Analytics And City Science, Jan 19, 2022
Designing urban areas that provide smaller distances to their amenities is a key factor toward mo... more Designing urban areas that provide smaller distances to their amenities is a key factor toward more walkable environments. Moreover, this is a critical aspect of climate-resilient urban planning since it is broadly assumed that areas with greater walkability discourage automobile usage and reduce CO2emissions. Generative and data-driven design approaches, in turn, increase designers’ ability to explore wider sets of potential solutions. In this sense, identifying designs with an optimized performance out of the vast possibilities that computation can provide is crucial. Shape grammars are a formal method of shape generation that facilitate the elaboration of complex patterns and meaningful designs. This paper hypothesizes that coupling shape grammars with multi-objective optimization can help address trade-offs and decision-making in urban design. It focuses on the pedestrian accessibility and infrastructure cost (as estimated by cumulative street length) trade-off in urban fabrics as a case study to verify the suitability of a grammar-based optimization approach for more dynamic and efficient solution-finding in urban design. Our findings suggest that a grammar-based optimization approach is helpful in addressing urban trade-offs as it could be used to filter the design space and provide optimal alternative fabric layouts with increased pedestrian accessibility and decreased infrastructure cost.
Springer: Computational Science and Its Applications, 2011
This paper describes the “Land Based Classification Standards” (LBCS) OWL2 ontology used as a bas... more This paper describes the “Land Based Classification Standards” (LBCS) OWL2 ontology used as a basic structure for the “City Information Modelling” (CIM) model developed within a larger research project aimed at developing a tool for urban planning and design. The main purpose is to provide semantic and computer-readable land use descriptions of geo-referenced spatial data, to make available programming strategies and design options to the participants of the urban development process. There are several advantages of transferring a Land use standard into a OWL2 land use ontology: it is modular, it can be shared and reused, it can be extended and data consistency can be checked, it is ready to be integrated, supporting the interoperability of different urban planning applications.
OWL-LED proceedings of OWL: Experiences and Directions Workshop 2012. Vol. 849. Published by CEUR-WS.org. Heraklion, Crete, Greece., 2012
We present a software tool for urban planing, driven by se- mantic web ontologies. With this tool... more We present a software tool for urban planing, driven by se- mantic web ontologies. With this tool, the participants of the urban development process can semantically annotate an intervention site with knowledge about the use of the land. The tool provides the user as much flexibility as possible in the choice of the land use standard that will be used to perform the classifications. This flexibility is achieved by defining extensible ontologies in which the concrete standards can be built upon. This allows our tool to load external ontologies that define the taxon- omy of the standard and the semantic relations between the land use categories. The loaded ontologies seamlessly integrate in the application, and are used through a friendly user interface. We also demonstrate how ontologies can be used to perform automatic categorizations and con- sistency checks in the geographical knowledge, aiding in the process of identifying the land uses of a site.
SIGraDi 2009 - Proceedings of the 13th Congress of the Iberoamerican Society of Digital Graphics, (pp. 132-134). Sao Paulo, Brazil., 2009
The street system is an important component of the city ontology created for a generative urban d... more The street system is an important component of the city ontology created for a generative urban design tool and should be able to integrate the many visions or interpretations that designers or other urban design agents may have about streets. This paper describes several characteristics of the street system, with its components organized into object classes which are the shape sets of algebras used by a generation module to generate street network representations that can be assessed by a GIS platform.
Proceedings of the CITTA 3rd Annual Conference on Planning Research, 2009
Cite: Gil, J., Montenegro, N., Beirão, J. N., & Duarte, J. P. (2010). On the Discovery of Urban T... more Cite: Gil, J., Montenegro, N., Beirão, J. N., & Duarte, J. P. (2010). On the Discovery of Urban Typologies. In Bringing City Form Back Into Planning, Proceedings of the CITTA 3rd Annual Conference on Planning Research, pp. 163-176. Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Proceedings of the 7th international conference on virtual cities and territories, 2011
"We present 4CitySemantics, a computational tool for City Planning. The main objective of this to... more "We present 4CitySemantics, a computational tool for City Planning. The main objective of this tool is to assist the participants of the urban development process in constructing adequate interpretations of a defined intervention site and its surrounding area (buffer), thereby contributing for better planning. The function of 4CitySemantics is to identify and classify both geographically and semantically the urban areas subjected to the intervention, which can be visualized. The key principle behind the tool is to offer the user as much flexibility as possible, so that s/he can develop customized semantic interpretations of the intervention areas in order to formulate an adequate intervention program. Such flexibility is achieved through the ample use of customizable ontologies for interpreting population and land use data, separating urban knowledge from the application tool, which can easily adapt to different urban semantic standards. By using the functionalities of the tool backed by the customizable ontologies, the urban planner can define a workflow to identify on a map a set of geo-referenced parcels belonging to the intervention areas and annotate them with semantic data regarding the use of the land. He can also annotate the intervention area with information regarding the type and size of its population. 4CitySemantics can also import data already semantically annotated, and that is ready for visualization.
Cite: Montenegro, N., Gomes, J., Urbano, P., & Duarte, J. P. (2011d). 4CitySemantics: GIS-Semantic Tool for Urban Intervention Areas. Proceedings of the 7th Virtual Cities and Territories Conference - 7VCT, (pp. 549-554). "
This paper presents an assessment of a selection software tools for urban design confronting thei... more This paper presents an assessment of a selection software tools for urban design confronting their capabilities with the goals of the CityInduction research project. The goal of this paper is the assessment of existing platforms for computer aided urban design to select one as the basis for implementing the urban design model proposed in the CityInduction project. This model includes three sub-models that support the formulation of design programs from contextual information, the exploration of designs solutions through a grammarbased generative approach, and the validation of designs against the program through the use of evaluation tools. To each of these sub-models corresponds a module in the envisioned platform and so, existing platforms are assessed in terms of their ability to support the implementation of each module. The current goal is a proof-of-concept implementation, but the final goal is the development of a complete platform for supporting urban design.
Urban planning and design has a considerable impact on the economic performance of cities and reg... more Urban planning and design has a considerable impact on the economic performance of cities and regions. It is a complex process that extends for a long period and involves many participants. The lack of integrated tools to support this process hampers the ability to maximize the response of plans to contextual conditions while using the least resources. This paper describes research that aims to develop such a tool, integrating formulation, generation, and evaluation capabilities. It is focused on the generation module which relies on the encoding of Urban Induction Patterns (UIP) using shape grammars. A grammar for the extension plan of the city of Praia is presented as one of the case studies used to support UIP definition and illustrate its application. The paper also discusses how the proposed tool can be used for developing and monitoring urban plans.
WISA: Fourth Workshop on Intelligent Systems and Applications., 2012
We present 4CitySemantics, a software tool for city planning driven by semantic web ontologies. W... more We present 4CitySemantics, a software tool for city planning driven by semantic web ontologies. With this tool the participants of the urban development process may identify an urban intervention site and respective surrounding area and semantically annotate them with knowledge about the use of the land and the type and size of its population, following a customizable workflow. The key principle behind the tool lies in the use of semantic web ontologies for the representation of land use systems, planning process workflow and population data, offering the user as much flexibility as possible, so that s/he can reuse or develop any semantic web ontology describing the standards that s/he wants to use in order to formulate an adequate intervention program. Such flexibility is achieved through modular ontologies that provide a clear separation of urban knowledge from the application tool, which was specially designed to cope with different urban semantic standards.
Proceedings of the 27th Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe – eCAADe 2009, 2009
"In sustainable urban development the first stage of the urban design process should consist of a... more "In sustainable urban development the first stage of the urban design process should consist of a pre-design phase where the context of the site is analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively. In this paper we present a methodology for data mining an urban Geographic Information System (GIS) data set, consisting of three main phases: representation, analysis and description. The process reveals a series of block and street typologies at various levels of detail that highlight the different character of two neighbourhoods. This methodology is demanding in the preparation phase and requires a high level of GIS and statistics expertise in the analysis phase. However, it successfully addresses the complex multi-scale and multi-level nature of cities in a systematic way, providing a tool for systematic profiling of neighbourhoods, which is site and problem specific.
Cite (Please refer to the more recent publication in 'Urban Morphology'): Gil, J., Montenegro, N., Beirão, J. N., & Duarte, J. P. (2009). On the Discovery of Urban Typologies: Data Mining the Multi-dimensional Character of Neighbourhoods. In B. Colakoglu, & G. Cagdas (Ed.), Proceedings of the 27th Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe – eCAADe 2009, (pp. 269-278). Istanbul, Turkey."
Volume 19 Number 2. Editor-in-Chief: Reza Beheshti, TUDelft,, NL Khaldoun Zreik, University Paris 8, FR, 2012
One of the problems that planners face currently is the difficulty in finding appropriate guidel... more One of the problems that planners face currently is the difficulty in finding appropriate guidelines for organizing public open spaces in urban areas. This invokes the need to create a system tool to describe and guide the planning of such components of the urban space. This research explores the problems related to the description and the location of public open spaces, and defines a system that integrates three distinct and complementary phases – appraisal, description, and location of public open spaces – each involving a specific methodology and associated tools. The main purpose is to provide computer-readable descriptions of patterns for planning urban space, to make available programmatic strategies and design options to the participants of the urban development process.
""Urban planning and design has a considerable impact on the economic performance of cities and r... more ""Urban planning and design has a considerable impact on the economic performance of cities and regions. It is a complex process that extends for a long period and involves many participants. The lack of integrated tools to support this process hampers the ability to maximize the response of plans to contextual conditions while using the least resources. This paper describes research that aims to develop such a tool, integrating formulation, generation, and evaluation capabilities. It is focused on the generation module which relies on the encoding of Urban Induction Patterns (UIP) using shape grammars. A grammar for the extension plan of the city of Praia is presented as one of the case studies used to support UIP definition and illustrate its application. The paper also discusses how the proposed tool can be used for developing and monitoring urban plans.
Keywords: Urban Design, Patterns, Shape Grammars, Generative Design""
Urban planning has a considerable impact on the economic performance of cities and on the quality... more Urban planning has a considerable impact on the economic performance of cities and on the quality of life of their populations. Efficiency at this level has been hampered by the lack of integrated tools to adequately describe urban space in order to formulate appropriate design solutions. This paper describes an ontology called LBCS-OWL2 specifically developed to overcome this flaw, based on the Land Based Classification Standards (LBCS), a comprehensive and detailed land use standard to describe the different dimensions of urban space. The goal is to provide semantic and computer-readable land use descriptions of geo-referenced spatial data. This will help to make programming strategies available to those involved in the urban development process. There are several advantages to transferring a land use standard to an OWL2 land use ontology: it is modular, it can be shared and reused, it can be extended and data consistency maintained, and it is ready for integration, thereby supporting the interoperability of different urban planning applications. This standard is used as a basic structure for the “City Information Modelling” (CIM) model developed within a larger research project called City Induction, which aims to develop a tool for urban planning and design.
"Urban planning and design have a considerable impact on the economic performance of cities and o... more "Urban planning and design have a considerable impact on the economic performance of cities and on the quality of life of the population. Efficiency at this level is hampered by the lack of integrated instruments for formulating, generating, and evaluating urban plans. This chapter describes the theoretical foundations of a research project, called City Induction, aimed at the creation of a model for the development of such an instrument, departing from existing theories, which are integrated through a discursive grammar. The proposed model is composed of three sub-models: (1) a model for formulating urban programs from the analysis and interpretation of the context, based on Alexander’s pattern language; (2) a model for generating urban plans that match the program, based on Stiny’s shape and description grammars; and (3) a model for evaluating urban plans, that can be used for analyzing, comparing and ranking alternative solutions, departing from Hillier’s space syntax. A common urban space ontology guarantees the syntactic and semantic interoperability among the three sub-models. This ontology will be used to structure and codify information into a Geographic Information System (GIS), which will be the kernel for the computer implementation of the larger model. A CAD system is used to construct 3D models from contextual information stored in the GIS. In short, following Stiny and March’s design machines concept, the goal is to create an urban design machine that is able to produce flexible urban plans at the site planning level.
Cite: V. Duarte, J. P., Beirão, J. N., Montenegro, N., & Gil, J. (2012). City Induction: formulating, generating, and evaluating urban plans. In S. Müller Arisona, P. Wonka, G. Aschwanden, & J. Halatsch (Eds.), Digital Urban Modeling and Simulation. Communications in Computer and Information Science (CCIS) (Vol. 242). Springer Berlin Heidelberg"
"When pursuing a more sustainable and integrative urban development, the first stage of the urban... more "When pursuing a more sustainable and integrative urban development, the first stage of the urban design process should consist of a pre-design phase where the context of the site is analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively. This information provides a base line for the contextualisation of the urban programme, of the design solutions and of the evaluation benchmarks proposed for the site.
Our research project aims to develop an urban design system using an urban ontology that can be applied to the formulation, generation and evaluation of urban plans. The purpose of this urban design system is: (1) formulation - to read data from the site context on a GIS platform and then generate adequate program descriptions, given the contextual conditions; (2) generation - to generate alternative design solutions that match the program, and (3) evaluation - to evaluate evolving design solutions against the program to obtain satisfactory results.
In this paper we present a methodology for data mining an urban Geographic Information System (GIS) data set, consisting of three main phases: representation, analysis and description. The process reveals a series of block and street typologies that highlight the different character of two neighbourhoods. This methodology is demanding in the preparation phase and requires a high level of GIS and statistics expertise in the analysis phase. However, it successfully addresses the complex multi-scale and multi- level nature of cities in a systematic way, providing a tool for systematic profiling of neighbourhoods, which is site and problem specific."
The ‘City Induction’ research project aims to develop an urban design framework at the scale of s... more The ‘City Induction’ research project aims to develop an urban design framework at the scale of site planning consisting of three modules: formulation, generation and evaluation. This paper presents the start of the on-going research on the evaluation module with the aim of identifying and discussing the assumptions behind its development. The evaluation module will be driven by sustainable urban development principles, which determine the design analysis criteria and benchmarks, and it will be structured around selected urban analysis and design methodologies. We discuss the challenges of bringing these two domains together, and propose to incorporate techniques of interaction and video game design towards a more meaningful and inspirational design experience.
We have been witnessing an increased interest in a more holistic approach to urban design practic... more We have been witnessing an increased interest in a more holistic approach to urban design practice and education. In this paper we present a spatial data model for urban design that proposes the combination of urban environment feature classes with design process feature classes. This data model is implemented in a spatial database that becomes the backbone of a City Information Model (CIM), integrating urban neighbourhood formulation, design, and evaluation methods into a comprehensive urban design support system. We demonstrate its application to urban design analysis and evaluation through the development of a tool for AutoCAD Map 3D that is integrated with the PostGIS spatial database.
This paper presents an assessment of a selection software tools for urban design confronting thei... more This paper presents an assessment of a selection software tools for urban design confronting their capabilities with the goals of the CityInduction research project. The goal of this paper is the assessment of existing platforms for computer aided urban design to select one as the basis for implementing the urban design model proposed in the CityInduction project. This model includes three sub-models that support the formulation of design programs from contextual information, the exploration of designs solutions through a grammar-based generative approach, and the validation of designs against the program through the use of evaluation tools. To each of these sub-models corresponds a module in the envisioned platform and so, existing platforms are assessed in terms of their ability to support the implementation of each module. The current goal is a proof-of-concept implementation, but the final goal is the development of a complete platform for supporting urban design.
The present policy objective of sustainable urban development has created the need for methods of... more The present policy objective of sustainable urban development has created the need for methods of ex ante evaluation of local area development projects that assess the contribution of alternative solutions to the general sustainability goals. For this reason, we have seen the evolution of building energy assessment methods into sustainable neighbourhood assessment methods that are more integrative and contextual to accommodate the complexities of the urban scale. This article identifies and reviews a selection of sustainable urban development evaluation tools that are applicable to the early stages of urban design projects, to provide a clearer picture of the state of play to those needing to use such tools and those wanting to develop new ones. The review follows an analytical framework covering the format, structure, content and output of the tools, based on the recommendations of planning evaluation theory and the requirements of urban design practice. Since no single tool stands out from the review, the choice is not simple and there is scope both to further improve existing tools and develop new ones. The paper concludes proposing a strategy for the development of robust and compatible sustainable urban development evaluation methods based on four goals: collaboration, compatibility, customisation and combination.
Architecture and Modern Information Technologies, 2 (11), 2010
Urban planning and design has a considerable impact on the economic performance of cities and reg... more Urban planning and design has a considerable impact on the economic performance of cities and regions. It is a complex process that extends for a long period and involves many participants. The lack of integrated tools to support this process hampers the ability to maximize the response of plans to contextual conditions while using the least resources. This paper describes research that aims to develop such a tool, integrating formulation, generation, and evaluation capabilities. It is focused on the generation module which relies on the encoding of Urban Induction Patterns (UIP) using shape grammars. A grammar for the extension plan of the city of Praia is presented as one of the case studies used to support UIP definition and illustrate its application. The paper also discusses how the proposed tool can be used for developing and monitoring urban plans.
The use of typomorphology as a means of understanding urban areas has a long tradition amongst ac... more The use of typomorphology as a means of understanding urban areas has a long tradition amongst academics but the reach of these methods into urban design practice has been limited. In this paper we present a method to support the description and prescription of urban form that is contextsensitive, multi-dimensional, systematic, exploratory, and quantitative, thus facilitating the application of urban typomorphology to planning practice. At the core of the proposed method is the k-means statistical clustering technique to produce objective classifications from the large complex data sets typical of urban environments. Block and street types were studied as a test case and a context-sensitive sample of types that correspond to two different neighbourhoods were identified. This method is suitable to support the identification, understanding and description of emerging urban forms that do not fall into standard classifications. The method can support larger urban form studies through consistent application of the procedures to different sites. The quantitative nature of its output lends itself to integration with other systematic procedures related to the research, analysis, planning and design of urban areas.
Urban planning and design have a considerable impact on the economic performance of cities and on... more Urban planning and design have a considerable impact on the economic performance of cities and on the quality of life of the population. Efficiency at this level is hampered by the lack of integrated instruments for formulating, generating, and evaluating urban plans. This chapter describes the theoretical foundations of a research project, called City Induction, aimed at the creation of a model for the development of such an instrument, departing from existing theories, which are integrated through a discursive grammar. The proposed model is composed of three sub-models: (1) a model for formulating urban programs from the analysis and interpretation of the context, based on Alexander’s pattern language; (2) a model for generating urban plans that match the program, based on Stiny’s shape and description grammars; and (3) a model for evaluating urban plans, that can be used for analyzing, comparing and ranking alternative solutions, departing from Hillier’s space syntax. A common urban space ontology guarantees the syntactic and semantic interoperability among the three sub-models. This ontology will be used to structure and codify information into a Geographic Information System (GIS), which will be the kernel for the computer implementation of the larger model. A CAD system is used to construct 3D models from contextual information stored in the GIS. In short, following Stiny and March’s design machines concept, the goal is to create an urban design machine that is able to produce flexible urban plans at the site planning level.
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Scientific Projects Membership by Jose P Duarte
Financiamento: FCT, PTDC/AUR/64384/2006. Equipa: José P. Duarte, 3 bolseiros, IST; José Beirão, Nuno Montenegro, FAUTL; Jorge Gil, Space Syntax Limited. Consultores: R. Stouffs, TU/Delft; G. Stiny, J. Ferreira, MIT; Bill Hillier, Bartlett School; Mário Krueger, U. Coimbra. Papel: coordenador. Publicações: Thesis: 3; Int. Jrnl. Art.: 2; Int. Conf. Art.: 15; Int. Book Chap.: 3; Nat. Conf. Art.: 2; Conf. Proc.: 1."
PTDC/AUR/64384/2006
KEY WORDS: Urban model, Ontology, Space syntax, Shape grammars
PROMOTING INSTITUTION(S): IST-ICIST
PERIOD: 01-06-2007 to 30-09-2011
FINANCING (EUR):166.431,00 IST/ICIST (EUR): 166.431,00
COORDINATOR: José Pinto Duarte. RESEARCHERS AND COLLABORATORS: Jorge Alberto Gil; José Nuno Beirão; Nuno Filipe Montenegro."
Papers by Jose P Duarte
Financiamento: FCT, PTDC/AUR/64384/2006. Equipa: José P. Duarte, 3 bolseiros, IST; José Beirão, Nuno Montenegro, FAUTL; Jorge Gil, Space Syntax Limited. Consultores: R. Stouffs, TU/Delft; G. Stiny, J. Ferreira, MIT; Bill Hillier, Bartlett School; Mário Krueger, U. Coimbra. Papel: coordenador. Publicações: Thesis: 3; Int. Jrnl. Art.: 2; Int. Conf. Art.: 15; Int. Book Chap.: 3; Nat. Conf. Art.: 2; Conf. Proc.: 1."
PTDC/AUR/64384/2006
KEY WORDS: Urban model, Ontology, Space syntax, Shape grammars
PROMOTING INSTITUTION(S): IST-ICIST
PERIOD: 01-06-2007 to 30-09-2011
FINANCING (EUR):166.431,00 IST/ICIST (EUR): 166.431,00
COORDINATOR: José Pinto Duarte. RESEARCHERS AND COLLABORATORS: Jorge Alberto Gil; José Nuno Beirão; Nuno Filipe Montenegro."
Cite: Montenegro, N., Gomes, J., Urbano, P., & Duarte, J. P. (2011d). 4CitySemantics: GIS-Semantic Tool for Urban Intervention Areas. Proceedings of the 7th Virtual Cities and Territories Conference - 7VCT, (pp. 549-554). "
Cite (Please refer to the more recent publication in 'Urban Morphology'): Gil, J., Montenegro, N., Beirão, J. N., & Duarte, J. P. (2009). On the Discovery of Urban Typologies: Data Mining the Multi-dimensional Character of Neighbourhoods. In B. Colakoglu, & G. Cagdas (Ed.), Proceedings of the 27th Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe – eCAADe 2009, (pp. 269-278). Istanbul, Turkey."
Keywords: Urban Design, Patterns, Shape Grammars, Generative Design""
Cite: V. Duarte, J. P., Beirão, J. N., Montenegro, N., & Gil, J. (2012). City Induction: formulating, generating, and evaluating urban plans. In S. Müller Arisona, P. Wonka, G. Aschwanden, & J. Halatsch (Eds.), Digital Urban Modeling and Simulation. Communications in Computer and Information Science (CCIS) (Vol. 242). Springer Berlin Heidelberg"
Our research project aims to develop an urban design system using an urban ontology that can be applied to the formulation, generation and evaluation of urban plans. The purpose of this urban design system is: (1) formulation - to read data from the site context on a GIS platform and then generate adequate program descriptions, given the contextual conditions; (2) generation - to generate alternative design solutions that match the program, and (3) evaluation - to evaluate evolving design solutions against the program to obtain satisfactory results.
In this paper we present a methodology for data mining an urban Geographic Information System (GIS) data set, consisting of three main phases: representation, analysis and description. The process reveals a series of block and street typologies that highlight the different character of two neighbourhoods. This methodology is demanding in the preparation phase and requires a high level of GIS and statistics expertise in the analysis phase. However, it successfully addresses the complex multi-scale and multi- level nature of cities in a systematic way, providing a tool for systematic profiling of neighbourhoods, which is site and problem specific."