Interactive optimization for the planning of urban systems

This paper introduces URBio, an interactive optimization framework for the planning of urban systems. Addressing the elusive nature of urban planning and its need to cope with more technical sectors, the framework allows urban planners to generate and evaluate many alternative urban configurations, while focusing their attention on the most promising ones. First, addressing the need for integrated urban modeling approaches, a Mixed Integer Linear Programing (MILP) optimization model representing both urban and energy system components was developed. Second, an interface based on parallel coordinates and georeferenced maps is proposed to effectively communicate the optimization results to decision makers, revealing tradeoffs and synergies between competing objectives. Interaction with the parallel coordinates charts further allows planners to steer consecutive optimization runs based on their preferences and experience. The framework is applied to an urban development project in Switzerland to demonstrate its usability and relevance.