3d Citylur: Modelling 3d City Land-Use Regulations to Support Issuing a Planning Permit

Abstract

Abstract. The applications and understanding of Land-use Regulations (LuR) are more communicable when they are linked to the digital representation of the physical world. In order to support issuing a planning permit and move towards the establishment of automated planning permit checks, this paper investigates how LuRs related to a planning permit process can be modelled in 3D called 3D CityLuR. 3D CityLuR serves as a 3D model for representing LuRs’ legal extents on a city scale. It is formed based on multiple geometric modelling approaches representing LuRs, which can provide a better cognitive understanding of LuRs and subsequently facilitate LuR automatic checks. To this purpose, according to LuRs’ descriptions and characteristics explained in related planning documents, key parameters representing LuRs’ extent are identified (e.g. maximum distance in overlooking or maximum allowed height in building height regulations). Accordingly, to automatically model each LuR, a geometric modelling approach (e.g. Boundary Representation (B-Rep), CSG, and extrusion) that best fits with the identified key parameters is proposed. In addition, to combine 3D CityLuR with an integrated BIM-GIS environment, the level of information need in terms of geometries and semantics is specified. Finally, the paper results in a showcase for five LuRs including building height, energy efficiency protection, overshadowing open space, overlooking, and noise impacts regulations. The showcase is a proof of concept for determining how these LuRs can be modelled in 3D and combined with 3D city models based on the selected geometric modelling approaches, identified parameters, and level of information need.

A Web-Based Planning Permit Assessment Prototype: Itwin4pp

“…Mid-rise and high-rise development growth (including a combination of different types of residential and commercial buildings) especially in cities with a lack of available lands, challenges responsible authorities (e.g., city councils and planning ministry) in both statutory and strategic planning phases (Emamgholian et al, 2021a;Selmi et al, 2017). Landuse Regulations (LuRs), with their involvement in regulatory mechanisms and processes, play a significant role to restrict illegal activities and developments on lands that may not be obvious to residents (Cann, 2018;Durham Jr and Scharffs, 2019).…”

“…With advances in three-dimensional (3D) digital information technologies, especially regarding the design of proposed developments with Building Information Modelling (BIM), 3D digital approaches and prototypes can be designed and developed for effective 3D analyses and visualisation of geospatial information (Atazadeh et al, 2017;Noardo et al, 2022b;Pouliot et al, 2018Pouliot et al, , 2016Rajabifard et al, 2019;Shojaei et al, 2018). However, required data processing and prototypes to enable modelling LuRs in 3D and consequently, detecting their potential conflicts is still lacking (Emamgholian et al, 2021a;Kitsakis et al, 2022;Kitsakis and Dimopoulou, 2017;Noardo et al, 2022a). Enabling 3D visualisation and verification of LuRs supports decision-making tasks and mitigates misunderstandings in interpreting and checking LuRs (Barzegar et al, 2021;Emamgholian et al, 2021bEmamgholian et al, , 2020Noardo et al, 2020b).…”