A new planning tool has been applied for the first time during the Competitive Dialog for Grasbrook district: “CityScope” is currently being developed by Digital City Science at HafenCity University in cooperation with the MIT Media Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and HafenCity Hamburg GmbH (HCH). The example of Grasbrook was used to investigate how digital analytical tools can be applied to iterative design processes and the evaluation of urban and landscape design proposals. In contrast to conventional preliminary assessment in urban planning and landscape design competitions based on forms of evaluation that are difficult to compare and sometimes highly qualitative, the tool enables immediate, quantitative work almost in real time and integrates environmental and use-related aspects to address new issues of sustainability and urban complexity at an early planning phase.

In the urban and landscape design competition for Grasbrook, the participating planning teams were given access during the detail phase (September 2019 till February 2020) to an online tool that they could use to carry out analyses relevant to the status of their respective designs:

• Noise Module (distribution of noise emissions from roads and rail lines)
• Stormwater Module (surface run-off volume)
• Walkability Module (accessibility on foot of social infrastructure)

The Grasbrook competitive dialog served as a living laboratory with regard to accompanying academic research and an initial validation of the CityScope tool. It did not replace the conventional preliminary assessment in this process, however.
Further development of the tool took place during the next planning stages as part of the integrated functional planning from May 2020 on. The planning process was again used as a living lab, and the tool’s development discussed with the planners commissioned by HCH. One outcome was an improvement in resolution to accommodate concretization in the ongoing planning process. Here an interface was created with City BIM (CIM), which the urban planners and landscape designers are continually updating. Additionally, the aforementioned modules on noise and stormwater were revised, and new modules are currently being added:

• Urbanity Module (flows of people depending on the location of facilities)
• Wind Module (planning stage, possibly in combination with sun, shade, microclimate)

This tool can also be accessed by the planners via an online interface that will be further developed during the current year of cooperation to make it more user friendly and to incorporate a variety of application scenarios. Digital City Science is developing different workshop formats in collaboration with HCH for using the tool in early discussion phases, during the competition or to address concrete planning issues with different stakeholder groups.

The results are being published in academic journals on an ongoing basis; a first paper has already been published and another is currently undergoing peer review.

BIM was a further digital planning tool used during the competitive dialog. The three-dimensional BIM planning models enabled the awarding authority and the planner to continuously verify and adjust whether quantitative targets were being reached, for example for house-building or for public open spaces. The BIM models continue to provide an indispensable joint planning basis for all the specialist and planning firms involved in the process.

A further digital tool expanded public participation opportunities. From 30 November till 24 February 2019, the DIPAS digital participation system provided an additional online opportunity to contribute suggestions, criticism or questions about the new district as well as to take part in surveys. Interactive touch-tables were also piloted at the Grasbrook workshop events held during the development process. With numerous maps and geodata on the project area, the DIPAS tables supplemented the information offered at the events. Guests could also find out about the interim status of the ongoing online participation on Grasbrook and compose their own contributions. The “hands-on data” on topics such as noise, transport connections and architectural monuments in the Grasbrook project area contributed to a lively discussion between the public and those responsible for the project. All of the digital contributions were evaluated together with the other feedback from citizens attending the workshops. DIPAS was developed as part of a three-year research and development project led by the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing (BSW) with the Hamburg Office for Geoinformation and Surveying (LGV) and the City Science Lab at HafenCity University (HCU).

In their second and final jury session on April 3, the panel of judges comprising representatives from various specialisms and politics and chaired by Prof. Matthias Sauerbruch (sauerbruchhutton) decided on the following awards: