Vertical sprawl - Computationally informed design methods for vertical urbanism flow patterns

Abstract

Urbanization is strongly connected to the migration of people from rural to urban areas, leaving the rural areas devoid of people and intensifying city centers. With the trend of denser and higher city typology patterns, the challenging and partly negative effects of urbanization are starting to be seen in our current cities. Vertical cities hold the key to solving overpopulation and overcrowding, yet the design idea of high-rise architectural form isn’t changing enough, especially in the area of vertical flow patterns, resulting in the stagnation of the vertical transformation of urban transportation.

This master thesis aims for exploring the potential of re-thinking traditional vertical flow patterns, as a pre-emptive response to conventional rapid vertical urbanization and traditional layer-to-layer mobility. This will be done by developing an algorithmic design approach, applying vertical space colonization, inspired by form-finding algorithms for procedural vertical flow generation.

The design approach will be implemented in a speculative design proposal that explores the theme of sustainable urban growth and compact green in Helsinki, Kalasatama. The crowd's daily travel preference will be applied to the algorithm.