A city or urban region is a complex system. It is very difficult to use conventional means to estimate the effects of planning decisions and measures. The complex networks of facts and data can no longer be processed by the human mind. Computer-aided assistance is also very helpful in urban planning.

Urban planning not only affects a city’s architectonics or traffic system. It also largely determines economic development. There is a causal relation between the ordering of urban functions and the infrastructure and economic development of a city or urban region. If the functions and the infrastructure of the same city are ordered differently, then different economic development will result.
There is also a causal relation in the planning sequence. The sequence in which plans are carried out also determines the future development of a city. A different planning sequence generates different development for the same city.

A city or urban region is not only dependent on a national or global economy, but also largely on the structural requirements of its own economy. These, in turn, determine whether this city or urban region can stand its ground in a national or global economy.

An urban simulation reflects the way a city or urban region functions. It shows the development potential generated by urban planning. Development potential is a means of measuring the economic success of the functions of a city or urban region. It is also a way to measure future investments and to show how much can be invested in an area so that the investment is worthwhile.

The development or increase in the density of a city or urban region in accordance with its development potential optimizes the economic success of this city. With the help of the urban simulation, precise urban planning decisions can always be made, so that the best economic development results for a city or urban region. The Urban Simulation of Berlin shows how, through a specific planning strategy found in the simulation, this city can economically be reactivated.

An urban simulation makes it possible to optimize the economic and urban development of a city. With the data about the effects of urban planning and a corresponding development policy, which is found using the urban simulation, the future of a city can be decided so that economic and architectonic goals are met.

author: Aurelius Bernet