At the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, MVRDV’s computational design arm MVRDV NEXT, multidisciplinary planning organization Superworld, and the Municipality of Rotterdam announced RoofScape, a software that visualizes potential uses for rooftops in Rotterdam.
RoofScape was designed to be used by both professionals and citizens while being detailed enough to assist policymakers and urban planners. As noted in MVRDV’s press announcement, rooftops have become one of Rotterdam’s urban planning priorities. This program builds on prior work between MVRDV and the Dutch city, who launched Rooftop Catalog in 2021, a book containing 130 suggestions for how rooftops can be utilized to increase Rotterdam’s density. The suggestions range from providing more housing and leisure spaces to fostering biodiversity and energy generation.
The software works by color-coding roofs by what uses they can support. The possibilities are determined through a wide range of datasets, including Rotterdam’s digital twin model that details the physical characteristics of buildings. Data such as building function, age, energy label, heritage status, flood risk, transit access, and more are added to further inform the potential of the rooftops.
Users can zoom in on specific neighborhoods and set various threshold sliders to see what kind of rooftops arise in those areas. Information on why specific buildings are assigned certain colors is also made available.
“The software integrates expert knowledge while remaining easy enough for all people to use,” said MVRDV NEXT Senior Project Leader Leo Stuckardt. “Rotterdam’s rooftop mission is an unusual urban design ideal — it can’t be done with one big decision, or even one organisation balancing the wishes of a thousand people. RoofScape addresses the diversity of ownership, dreams, and ambitions that need to be negotiated and explores how municipalities can steer these developments through public policy.”
“The Rooftop Catalogue was a huge success in raising people’s awareness of what we see as a resource for the city, and generating some excitement over what could be done with it,” said Paul van Roosmalen, the program manager for the city’s Rotterdam Rooftops program. “This prototype of RoofScape is a call to action. We’re hoping to get more cities and other stakeholders involved in the next steps for RoofScape.”
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