Parametric Urbanism

Using the Tools of Parametric Urbanism
Toward a more Responsive Environmental Urban Morphology

Mohamed Mostafa Ibrahim Mohamed Saleh
For The Degree of Master of Science
In Architectural Engineering
University of Alexandria

This research by Mohamed Mostafa Ibrahim Mohamed Saleh explores the use of computers in the urban design process and the techniques and mechanisms of the computational approach to the environmental urban morphology. It is also concerned with the deliberation on the genesis and development of parametric urban models.

This brings us to the must of a deep understanding of all the forces affecting the urban environment and how to emerge them into a quantitative approach, through correlating them coherently with the parametric urban design process. Moving one step ahead, this knowledge is used to support urban designers and planners in decision making.

Because if the environmental design approach has been considered as the key for optimizing urban morphologies parametrically, the environmental challenges that often overwhelm designers can be overcome. This quantitative approach is presented as following:

First, this research defines the points of view of parametric design and the parametric approach to urbanism by exploring different theorists and architects. Then presenting a holistic view of the parametric urban design framework, ending by investigating (what, when, and how) of the parametric urbanism process.

Furthermore, it analyzes the parametric urbanism and correlating it with environmental approach from a quantitative point of view, through deducing the main physical parameters of the urban morphology and how these parameters can be associated with the environmental aspects to create a parametric assessment model for supporting decision making.

Moreover, it explores the applicability of parametric design through the creation and development of the assessment model of Parametric Urban Comfort Envelope (PUCE) using the computational methods to construct a Performance-based model, helping the urban designer in the early phases to choose the optimal solution as a first step towards designing an environmental urban morphology.

A model in which the urban designer can enter parameters and rules for an optimized urban pattern concerning the human comfort values in a certain location, the PUCE model will generate multi solution and alternatives to the specified rules based on two particular environmental generators in
order to focus on what is the capability of generate and evaluate the urban morphology parametrically.