In its experimental project, Arkkitehtitoimisto A-Konsultit creates a digital tool for land use planning. The tool will assist land use planners in making planning decisions based on calculations more easily.

What kind of problem is the project trying to solve?

Land use planning is largely dependent on the initial situation of the area in question and the assessment of the priorities of zones in relation to the objectives of the planning work. The plan maker must decide how to commensurately and objectively assess environments that are highly different in their features and conditions. In addition to political guidance and external decisions, the plan maker must be able to defend their own planning decisions.

The project aims at creating a land use planning tool to use calculations in the evaluation of the initial situation in the area and the priorities of zones in relation to the objectives of the planning work using national materials. 

It is important to create a new tool because planning processes and land use control systems must be updated over the coming years to meet the possibilities offered by the information society.

Objective: Standardised tool to support land use design work

The objective is to create a free-to-use and customisable GIS design tool based on open location data that can be utilised in various land use projects anywhere in the country. In addition, the possibilities for further use of the materials provided by the system in producing the visualisation material of the project will be explored.

What is done in this project?

In the project, we will analyse and refine the prototype of a GIS design system that we have used in our previous projects. The prototype will be documented and released for public use. In addition, different options for processing the GIS material provided by the system in other design software are mapped and piloted.

Expected results?

We hope that the system we create will be widely usable as a background tool in land use planning and that it will provide food for thought for the current reform of the Land Use and Building Act, for example.

Who benefits?

The results of the project are available for anyone working on land use planning to use.