A City By No-One

Abstract: This project is an exploration of methods for generating virtual urban environments, framed in an interactive first-person perspective allowing the user to navigate the architectural design space by walking through a city as it is being generated. The project is developed on a foundation of three primary concepts: 1) A spatial interpretation of parameter sets which are positioned in virtual space, 2) Distance-based interpolation of these parameter sets as a method to govern how the urban environments are generated at different points in space,3) The transformation and merging of basic square grids embedded in positioned parameter sets resulting in a composite grid which functions as the spatial framework of the urban environment. The interaction of these concepts forms a framework which allows for the directing of space using 'parametric styles'. This term is in analogy to 'style' in an art-historical sense, which poses questions centered on the formalization and meaning of aesthetics in the context of urban culture, as well as offering an experiment lab for simulating power dynamics between actors in the theory and practice of urban planning and development.