Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/35322
BY RICK HARRISON A Sustainable Future Those who design cities refer to minimums to please their clients (developers) by maximizing density, which is thought to maximize profits. More recently, computer-aided design (CAD)-based technologies allow designers to enter data into a set of prompts that can automate street and lot generation as fast as a mouse can be moved across a computer screen. Designers assume developers want to see site plans as soon as possible to get yields for financing projection, but CAD-generated data (lines, arcs and text) typically lack important information that geospa- tial technology can provide. This is a recipe for the cookie-cutter developments T that often are brought to a planning commission and council for approval. Those voting for approval look at the monotonous design typically shown in two dimen- sions (on paper) and complain about the “greedy devel- oper” wanting to squeeze every possible home into the site, not realizing that it’s the city that created the rules encouraging the layout that disgusts them. This situation, repeated millions of times throughout history, is a blueprint guaranteeing unsustainable growth. Technology developed to make the platting of land auto- mated as fast as possible has removed the “humanness” and made the developed landscape essentially a replica- tion of CAD “blocks” using the “offsets” command. Sustainable solutions require an entirely new way to design that harnesses precision spatial technology to generate sustainable solutions and not just get out a quick plat. 22 GEO W ORLD / JUL Y 2O11 Harness Virtual-Reality Spatial Technology and Exceed Regulatory Minimums hroughout history, consultants have planned cities using regulatory systems requiring minimum stan- dards for street sections, lot with, depth, area, etc. Community Development