Urban Green Systems 4.0 Module 2: A Computational framework for novel Urban Green System design

• Applicants: Professor Dr.-Ing. Ferdinand Ludwig; Professor Dr. Hans Pretzsch; Professor Dr. Thomas Rötzer
• Subject Area: Forestry ; Urbanism, Spatial Planning, Transportation and Infrastructure Planning, Landscape Planning
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 465361857

Rapid urbanisation and environmental degradation draw increasing attention to the delivery of ecosystem services that plants provide in cities. Future urban green systems (UGS) can mitigate the consequences of urban climate change by improving outdoor living quality and protecting buildings and people from the consequences of extreme weather. The design, planning, and management of novel UGS can adapt strategies and methods from historical land use systems. These systems have been developed specifically for certain contexts with the aim of achieving precisely defined functions. They are based on a set of techniques such as coppicing, pollarding, pleaching or grafting. The potential of these practices for the development of novel UGS has not yet been systematically assessed.Our research aim is to tackle the complex dynamics of UGS design and plant growth management through a novel combination of performance-oriented design, 3D-scanning, and simulation. We will set out a framework for a novel workflow, coupling generative and analytical computational methods, and related tools, with an adequate decision support system. This workflow will be derived from two historic systems: house-protection hedges (Hausschutzhecken) and trained tree canopies. Historically, the emergence and development of these systems is based on a regular comparison between the actual development and the targeted performance. This procedure integrates design decisions, physical plant manipulations and growth processes. According to this approach we will address the following research questions: How can the structure and microclimatic effects of such plant systems be captured and calculated? How can the reactions of plants to manipulation techniques be simulated? How can design and maintenance decisions be structured by comparison between the actual and the intended status? Are these methods feasible for short and long-term forecasts of the development and are they suitable for the design and management of novel UGS? To answer these questions, the project combines different methods, interdisciplinary expertise and prerequisite experience in three closely related and complementary research areas: living tree architecture (Baubotanik; F. Ludwig), computational design (M. U. Hensel) and urban forestry (T. Rötzer, H. Pretzsch).This application is the second of two thematically linked projects. The first project is based on an ecosystem multifunctionality perspective and investigates how historical land use practices can inspire novel UGS. It represents historical information and integrates it with horticultural knowledge by using computational ontology. The two modules can be processed independently of each other, but the integration of the results will generate possibilities for the computational workflow explored in this project on a broader knowledge-base of diverse historical approaches.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Austria
• Partner Organisation: Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (FWF)
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Dr. Michael Ulrich Hensel