Combining system dynamics model, GIS and 3D visualization in sustainability assessment of urban residential development

Constructing and improving urban residential areas is an eternal critical subject in the process of the whole urban development which is connected with a series of challenges and problems. During the past decades, urban residential development has speed up extremely with massive population mobility in cities. The purpose of this study is to propose an integrated approach for sustainability assessment of urban residential development, considering sustainability indicators, housing equilibrium and building visualization. Firstly based on merging DPSIR (Driving Forces, Pressure, State, Impact and Response) framework and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), the indicators were systematized for the sustainability modeling. Due to the urban activities cause impacts not only on local level but also a broader scale, a simulation model, using System Dynamics (SD) methodology, was structured to quantitatively investigate the developmental tendency of the indicators. And then the estimated results were displayed in 2D density maps in ArcGIS and 3D visualization in CityEngine. A real case study was presented for the Stuttgart Region of the state of Baden-Württemberg in Southern Germany and its Plieningen district to experience the usefulness and feasibility of the developed approach. The integration of GIS, SD model and 3D visualization, called GISSD system here, can better explain the interaction and the variation of the sustainability indicators for residential development. Hence it is able to support the Decision Maker to view the sustainable level of urban residential areas more comprehensively.

► We integrate System Dynamics and GIS in a study of urban residential development.
► We forecast the future development of the sustainability indicators using SD model.
► 2D density maps and 3D views are created based on the geographic data and SD results.
► We simulate the future spatial distribution of residential buildings in urban areas.
► The methodology assists evaluation of residential development both in time and space.