Real-time visual simulation of urban sustainability

Sustainable decision making for strategic planning is a challenging process: requiring an understanding of the complex interactions among environmental, economic and social factors. Commonly, such decisions are dominated by economic factors hence there is a need for a framework that supports inclusive decision making throughout all stages of urban and rural planning projects. Towards this the authors have developed the Sustainable City Visualization Tool (S-CITY VT) which comprises 1) indicators (these provide the basis for assessment and monitoring of sustainability) selected according to scale and development 2) modelling techniques that provide indicator values, as not all of the indicators can be measured, and allows spatio-temporal prediction of indicators 3) Interactive 3D visualisation techniques to facilitate effective communication with a wide range of stakeholders. The sustainability modelling and 3D visualisations are shown to have the potential to enhance community engagement within the planning process thus enhancing public acceptance and participation within the urban or rural development project.