طراحی به کمک کامپیوتر در توسعه شهری و نرم افزار مدیریت- برای برنامه ریزی یکپارچه و طراحی های بهینه سازی

Planning and Design in Urban Development, consuming large Resources entailing many variables giving numerous solutions with large variations in resource-efficiency indicators, is a problem-solving process (Mitchell WJ. Computer-aided architectural design. New York: Petrocelli/Charter; 1977) involving search through numerous potential solutions to select a particular solution that meets a specified criteria, making computer-use indispensable. Planners/Designers (e.g. engineers/architects/planners) Commit huge Resources (e.g. money, land, materials), in their planning-design-decisions (i.e. planning function, 1 of 5 urban managerial functions) forming part of Integrated Urban Management (Chakrabarty BK. Urban management: concepts, principles, techniques and education. Cities, vol. 18/5. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science; 2001), enjoining on them an Ethical Responsibility/Accountability to the Society to achieve Productivity and Equity in Resources-Use so committed for a resource-efficient housing/urban problem solution. Operations Research (Optimization) and computer-aided design (CAD), are essential Techniques to improve Productivity (Koontz H, Weihrich H. Essentials of management. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company;1990; Koontz H, O’Donnel C. Management—a system and contingency analysis of managerial functions, New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company; 1976). Hence, it is vital that planners/designers apply (facilitated by modern computers) CAD/Optimization (even ancients applied Optimization) to discharge their above Accountability to the Society, for a Resource-Efficient and Equitable solution of housing/urban problems, in the context of rising population and dwindling Resources, particularly because we live in a Finite Earth with Finite Resources and no rational decision is really complete without Optimization. CAD primarily depends on: (i) system software—supplied with the hardware, and (ii) application software—available commercially or to be developed in-house. A number of descriptive/optimizing urban development models are developed and published earlier (Chakrabarty BK. Models for the optimal design of housing development systems. Environment and Planning B 17(33); 1990; Chakrabarty BK. Optimization in residential land subdivisions. Journal of Urban Planning and Development, American Society of Civil Engineers 117(1); 1991; Chakrabarty BK. Optimal design of multifamily dwelling development systems. Building and Environment 31(1); 1996; Chakrabarty BK. Urban management and optimizing urban development models. Habitat International 22(4); 1998). These are being converted into an Application Software to help apply Integrated CAD by Optimization to improve productivity and equity in housing and urban operations. The paper outlines the Application Software: HudCAD, which covers all four components of Integrated CAD (Hsu T, Sinha DK. Computer-aided design: an integrated approach. St.Paul: West Publishing Company; 1992) i.e. (i) geometric modeling (ii) design analysis/Design Optimization (iii) drafting/drawing, and (iv) data management, storage and transfer; rarely available in commercial CAD systems built primarily to perform geometric modeling/drafting. Application of HudCAD is illustrated with example problems. Addition of “Computer-Aided Planning and Design by Optimization” as a subject of study in the courses of existing disciplines of engineering/architecture/planning, rather than developing optimization specialists unable to comprehend the systems to be optimized, is suggested. This would equip such urban professionals to apply CAD by Optimization in housing/urban operations to achieve a Resource-Efficient and Equitable solution to our mounting housing and urban problems.

Urbanization is the most dominant phenomenon in all developing countries and is inevitable, since it is directly linked with their economic growth, indicated by the fact that urban population forms an overwhelming majority in all developed countries [1] and [2]. As per estimate, the world has crossed a demographic milestone i.e. for the first time in the history of humankind urban population is more than rural population [3]. Urban development entails huge consumption of resources (money, materials, land, energy and so on), which are always inadequate compared to the need. Hence, productive use of such resources, adopting an Integrated Urban Management Approach, is essential for a Resource-Efficient and Equitable solution to our mounting housing and urban problems. In this context, Planning and Design in Building/Housing/Urban Development, entailing many variables and giving numerous solutions with large variations in resource-efficiency indicators, needs to be viewed as a problem-solving process involving searching through numerous potential solutions to select a particular solution that meets a specified criteria or goal, making computer use indispensable. Moreover, Urban PROFESSIONALS (e.g. building/civil engineers, architects, planners) Commit huge Resources (e.g. money, land, materials etc.) in their Planning-Design-Decisions (i.e. planning function, 1 of 5 urban managerial functions) in Urban Operations, forming part of Integrated Urban Management [4], making them Ethically Responsible/ACCOUNTABLE to the SOCIETY/User Citizens to achieve PRODUCTIVITY (output–input ratio) and EQUITY in the use of Resources so committed in their plans/designs to produce building/urban services. Operations research (OR) and computer-aided design (CAD), are essential Integrative Techniques to improve Productivity i.e. Efficiency and Effectiveness [5] and [6]. Hence, it is vital that above Professionals apply such Techniques in planning and design and achieve Optimization to discharge their above Responsibility/Accountability to the Society/People for a Resource-Efficient and Equitable solution of our mounting housing and urban problems, in the context of affordability and resource constraints, and the conflicting interests/viewpoints/demands of multiple-stakeholders in the building/urban sector. Even the ancients applied Optimization, which is rarely applied in our modern building/housing/urban development operations creating many inefficiencies and inequities and consequent urban problems. Applying such Techniques/Optimization in all urban operations has become more crucial (also facilitated by modern computers), as: (i) we live in a Finite Earth with Finite Resources, (ii) in many countries, per capita Resource is reducing with increase in population (in India per capita land has reduced from 1.42 in 1901 to only 0.3 ha in 2001), (iii) no rational decision-making process is really complete without Optimization [7], and (iv) there can be large variations in the Resource-Efficiency Indicators depending on the Planning and Design Decisions of Urban Professionals in the urban operations, creating a large scope for Resource Optimization. The paper discusses Planning and Design as a problem-solving process and the useful role of computers in this process. It outlines the concept of OR and Optimization and the utility of CAD to apply such techniques to achieve efficiency and equity in the housing/urban operations. CAD primarily depends on: (i) system software—supplied with the hardware, and (ii) application software—available commercially or to be developed in-house. To promote application of CAD by Optimization in housing and urban development a number of descriptive and optimizing (nonlinear programming) models have been developed many of which are published elsewhere [8], [9], [10] and [11]. These are now being converted into an Application Software to help apply Integrated CAD by Optimization to improve productivity and equity in housing and urban operations. The paper presents an Application CAD Software named Housing and Urban Development Computer-Aided Design (HudCAD), which combines all three elements i.e. cost, design optimization and drafting, solves the above nonlinear programming models, and converts instantly the numerical solution into a graphic output, with interactive inputs from the designers, who can obtain optimal solution in numeric/graphic form, even if not skilled in such techniques. Thus, HudCAD covers all four components of Integrated CAD [12] i.e. (i) geometric modeling (ii) design analysis/Design Optimization (iii) drafting/drawing, and (iv) data management, storage and transfer; rarely available in commercial CAD systems built primarily to perform geometric modeling/drafting. Application of HudCAD is illustrated with example problems. Optimization (choosing optimal values of system variables) is the last of the three-step rational decision-making process [7]. In the other two steps i.e. knowledge/description of the system and finding a measure of system effectiveness, the professional knowledge of architects, engineers and planners would be of crucial importance. Hence, addition of “Computer-Aided Planning and Design by Optimization” as a subject of study in the professional courses in above existing disciplines, rather than developing optimization specialists unable to comprehend the systems to be optimized, is suggested. This would equip such urban professionals to apply CAD by Optimization in housing/urban operations and promote research to enlarge and refine such techniques for more effective application, and thus, help achieve a Resource-Efficient and Equitable solution of our mounting housing and urban problems.

It is projected that the world has crossed a demographic milestone, i.e. for the first time in the history of mankind the urban population is more than the rural population [3]. Past trends indicate that urbanization is an inevitable process along with the economic development of a country, and currently it is the most dominant phenomenon in all developing countries. Urbanization entails huge building and infrastructure development activities, consuming huge Resources. In this context Planning and Design of Housing/Urban Services needs to be viewed as a problem-solving process forming Part (i.e. Planning Function) of Integrated Urban Management (discussed above) to achieve the Goal of Resource-Efficient and Equitable solution of our mounting housing/urban problems, Maximizing the beneficial impacts of urbanization [4], [13] and [28]. In this problem-solving process, which involves search through numerous potential solutions (with very large variations in the Resource-Efficiency Indicators—even 2–4 times as shown in example problems above) to select a particular solution that meets a specified criteria/goal (e.g. efficiency and equity), Computer-Use is indispensable. Moreover, OR/Optimization and CAD are Basic Techniques to improve Efficiency and Effectiveness [5] and [6], hence, it is Basic that the Urban Professionals use such Techniques to Discharge their Ethical Responsibility/ACCOUNTABILITY to the Society/People to achieve Efficiency, Effectiveness and Equity in the use of huge Resources committed by them in their plans and designs, to produce building/urban services, and thus, help achieve the Goal of Resource-Efficient and Equitable Solution of our mounting Housing/Urban Problems within Resource Constraints, as we live in a Finite Earth with Finite Resources. However, Optimization, using such modern technology, is rarely applied in our Building/Urban Operations, creating many inefficiencies/inequities and the consequent urban problems [4], although, even the ancients applied Optimization [7] and [14] when population was much lesser, resource constraints much less severe, and technology was almost nonexistent. To correct this situation all Educational Institutions may include: “Computer Aided Planning and Design by Optimization (CAPDO)” as a full-credit Course in the Curricula of their architecture, urban planning, civil/building engineering education, and carry out Research in this area to widen the scope of application of such modern techniques in our housing/urban operations in this new millennium. This will EQUIP students (future building/urban professionals) to apply such modern techniques, and to adopt an integrated problem-solving approach in our housing/urban operations to improve the quality of life for all, in a resource-efficient and equitable manner, in the context of urban dynamics, and the affordability and resource constraints at various levels.