Virtual 3D Modeling & Simulation

How can virtual 3D modeling and simulation help us to create better cities?

Well, an answer to this is, new technologies offer new possibilities for the planning and designing of cities. Modeling of an urban environment, from aerial view maps of different time periods to the most accurate city plan projections, is not a new concept. Over the centuries, these 2D plans and representations maps are made for different purposes and always have helped develop our cities. Incorporating these technologies into planning practices has its own challenges.

Possibilities of 3D Modelling:

A virtual 3D model is a digital model for the urban areas and represents terrain surfaces. It’s challenging to find an industry untouched by 3D technology, and applying it to urban planning will help the planners cut costs, complete projects with greater efficiency, and more. Following are some possibilities that can be used:

1. Building bridges without human laborers: Urban Planning in areas along the water requires the bridges factor into the city’s design that will help pedestrians and cars travel smoothly. This will substantially reduce the human labor needed because of the welding machine and industrial robots.
2. Help in solving the Homelessness Crisis: 2% of the world’s population is homeless, and 20% lack adequate housing, so it is essential to pin down the problem to a single cause, but the unplanned or poorly planned urbanization is rising the home costs. The representatives working on the pioneering project believes in effectively addressing homelessness and look beyond traditional methods of solving the problems.
3. Assisting planners with accurately capturing Dimensions: The city planners often communicate with other professionals for creating or improving a city, and they often provide measurements of physical objects like additions to a building. The inaccurate measurements sometimes slow down the construction wrestling in errors that tend to make the projects go over budget.
4. Mitigating the Impacts of Urban overheating: A urban heat island in a city that is substantially warmer than the surrounding rural areas is due to human activities. Urban planners have numerous techniques at their disposal to reduce the effects of urban heat islands associated with overheating by including planting vegetative layers on rooftops and using green paving materials that reflect more light.
5. Printing and Modeling can make enhanced cities more feasible: These new innovations do not mean that the city planners can disregard their previous methods, but the possibilities give then new perspectives while determining how to meet the needs while designing cities.

Also, the emergence of geodesign is the intersection of geography, urban design, and geospatial technologies, helping in when, where, and how we develop spatial thinking capacities and skills. These capabilities are critical in managing, visualizing, representing, and navigating a data-based world. The use of interactive design and digital mapping will turn out to be an effective strategy for thinking the critical placemaking and spatial thinking.

The use of augmented reality technology allows designers to visualize urban landscapes and developed map-reading skills for interpreting landscape presentations. It also strives to improve spatial literacy to co-design the built environment and help them become better planners with competency and employability. 3D modeling and simulation certainly offer new possibilities in designing planning solutions in response to challenges like urban population growth.