IT Modeling Experience in Urban and Regional Development

Abstract

Contemporary world increased dynamics forcing accordingly every human activity leaving none outside this never-ending race. Regional development is certainly strongly influenced by this trend challenging regional and urban planning techniques to cope with that. Acceleration of a working context and ambient accompanying with significant complexity are reasons, not only reasons however, for new evaluation and consequent advancement of current urban development planning methodologies. Shortage of a new appropriate techniques and methodology is apparent. Methodology that is able to respond quickly and efficiently to changes, independently from social and cultural context, toward to current development trends. Current planning techniques are based on accustomed mixture of verbal and informal graphic and symbolic language. In the same time research substance if exceptionally complex, heterogeneous and substantial retaining numerous different parameters with rich relationships matrix, required to consider and study in order to fulfill the designated outcome through firmly defined set of activities. One of most difficult problems is spatial dynamics since it is hard to recognize and identify and accordingly difficult to describe and control. Consequently, advancement of a planning methodology is essential to manage all listed inconsistence and weakness i.e. a new planning methodology is mandatory. This objective will certainly require a fundamental breach and change of current planning techniques demand and new interdisciplinary approach and research. Similar complexity level, vast list of parameters with complex and heterogeneous structural and dynamic relationship scheme, may be found in information and telecommunication systems i.e. computer based systems. Information and Telecommunication Technology (ICT in further text) uses object oriented methodology, for analysis and design as well, (OO in further text) to cope with the complexity, scope and heterogeneity of a systems. Latest step in this direction is a Unified Modeling Language (UML in further text) as a cohesive graphic and formal language for system description. UML is adopt as an industry standard and today is almost inevitable in every even modest ICT project. Paper illustrates basic building block of OO methodology and UML, and theirs many years of positive experience and encouraging results, intending to exploit this in an urban spatial planning domain. Higher perception and description level, enhanced knowledge and improved control over the urban development are main objective. However authors do not consider direct, as is, implementation of OO methodology and UML to the problem of urban and regional development. Localization and adjustment to the problem domain is advisory. This is already accomplished for several other vertical industries as joint effort of local experts and OO/UML professionals. Main goal is to apply currently acquired OO/UML experience and knowledge to the urban and regional development problem domain. This interdisciplinary research will be, evidently, long, complex and expensive process but we believe that this direction promises a significant progress for urban planning. Urban ambient formal specification, founded on OO/UML modeling methodology, may accumulate experience and knowledge presenting it to the audience, introducing computer added urban planning and, may be in the future, urban ambient simulation.