Improving Urban Planning with VR

Modeling your complex realities

 Improving Urban Planning with VR

Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Germany)

Meike Drießen, July 14, 2023

Researchers at Germany's Ruhr-Universität Bochum demonstrated measurable physical reactions to potential changes to urban settings using virtual reality (VR) tools. The researchers simulated the changes in a three-dimensional (3D) model using the Unity3 game engine, allowing users to immerse themselves in the environment to view traffic flow and interactions between cars and pedestrians. The researchers observed an increase in stress levels among participants exposed to higher traffic volumes through the simulations. Said Ruhr-Universität Bochum's Julian Keil, "Until now, residents and other stakeholders have been involved in the planning stage of construction measures, but only in the form of surveys, i.e. explicit statements. Our method enables spatial planners to assess implicit effects of possible measures and to include them in the planning, too."