A parametric approach to plot-based urban design: A climate-responsive algorithmic control for the generation of urban block

Abstract

In modern urbanism, (re)production of urban land predominantly relies on large parcels through intensive capital investments. Such a mainstream significantly shapes the overall urban form, subsequently influencing the quality of life through the perceived characteristics of the form and program of the planned districts. Consequently, critical urban design theory increasingly prioritizes the plot as the fundamental unit of future urban development. While ‘plot-based urbanism’ presents a responsive approach to this issue, there remains a notable gap in systematic methodologies that can be universally applied across different contexts. In this paper, the authors propose an algorithmic framework that would be employed as a design control tool based on the associative logic of plot-based urban formation. The model framework comprises three steps: (1) plot layout generation, (2) building configuration, and (3) incremental formation of the block fabric. The applied model demonstrates the compositional variation and coherence within the urban block while concurrently optimizing the climatic performance of the emerging fabric.