The urban decision room - application and evaluation of an urban management instrument

Abstract

The Urban Decision Room (UDR) should be placed in the tradition of urban design and planning discipline that is taught, and into which research is carried out, at the Faculty of Architecture at the Delft University of Technology. The UDR was developed at the faculty as one of the new design and planning methods with its own specific features. The UDR is specifically aimed at decision-making processes in the practice of urban planning, and particularly at complex urban area development projects. The background to the design enables the UDR to support planning decisions that are made at urban planning element level. The participants in the interactive UDR sessions are asked to provide concrete solutions for urban planning design problems (in terms of preferences for particular functions, number of plots, etc.) and to enter them in a simulation model. A computer network is then used to calculate the common solution space of all the proposals, which is then projected onto a central screen. This outcome generally provides the basis for further discussions and negotiations, after which another round as described above can be held. The paper first focuses on the background and the main features of the UDR system. Secondly, the decision-making issue and a description of a specific Urban Decision Room model, the UDR Heijsehaven will be explained. Thirdly the structure of, and the experiences from, the experimental sessions with the Urban Decision Room Heijsehaven are described. After that the results of the evaluation of the UDR system by participants is presented and finally the follow-up assignment for the UDR system is carried out.