Facilitating solar energy and noise simulations in the planning of urban densification

The population of several cities in Sweden has grown rapidly in recent years. In order to meet the increasing needs of housing and services, the cities have been densified. When densifying a city, it is important to have good living conditions and to have a small environmental impact.

In this project we will study how we can reduce noise levels and make use of incoming solar energy in city densification by facilitating simulations in the planning process.

The assumption is that if it is easy to practically carry out simulations, these will become increasingly common, which will facilitate better informed decisions for improving living conditions and reducing energy consumption.To support simulations, as well as improve the quality and comparability of these, the input data needs to be adapted, quality assured and harmonized.

In this project, we will evaluate how the information models and data quality affect the results of simulations as well as what data requirements are set based on European guidelines.

Based on this knowledge, we will study how input data for simulations can become part of the digital data infrastructure that is being developed for the built environment process in Sweden, and especially how data can be integrated into a city model (a digital twin).

Finally, we will carry out case studies where we perform simulations, based on the information models developed, to evaluate a couple of different densification proposals.