Data-supported Design in Architecture and Urbanism

Abstract

For the past three decades, the shift toward digitization propelled the implementation of data-supported design into contemporary practices and research in Architecture and Urbanism. The growing availability of data and broader accessibility to software and skills are introduced to designers and city makers as enablers of sustainable design solutions, aiming to address the global challenges of rapid urban growth and climate change. This brings an opportunity to explore the use of a specific type of data – geospatial data – in design methods. This paper focuses on understanding the relationship between the process of digitization and the use of data to support design in Architecture and Urbanism, through a literature review and case study. Adopting transport nodes as a type of project for the investigation of such methods, the paper brings in the case of the Sustainable Los Angeles 2050 project to explore how the use of geospatial data can influence the design of transport nodes.