The complexity of urban systems is an increasingly common topic in academic literature. Following in the footsteps of the industrial sector, which has understood this issue for many years now, urban engineering must also tackle the challenges created by complex systems. Industrial engineering has provided a number of responses to this challenge, including design technologies, which are notably collaborative. It seems possible, at least in theory, to transfer a number of best practice methods and adapt these to the conceptualisation of urban development projects (in the initial phase) in order to encourage their global management (in terms of strategic decision-making) and their social acceptability. The challenge is then to formulate new methodological models, as well as to create an environment dedicated to their application.

The demand for up-to-date information and design 'tools' to help architects design more sustainable buildings is rapidly expanding. This demand has led to use various ecological assessment tools as support tools for the design process. The absence of adequate tools, which contribute to early stages, as well as the additional costs of tardy modifications, has led us to propose an ecodesign support tool. This tool is based on a methodology named "Eco-Model (EM) Method" that focuses on the ecological approaches of a building. This method proposes to consider environmental friendly solutions from the first sketches by proposing a number of micro-solutions, called here Eco-Model or "EM". Subsequently, the study presents the first contour of software based on an EM approach. Thus, the various actors of the design team will be able to browse the useful information for their green projects and so collaborate to optimize the building design.