Community of the Future Initiative

research contact: Bruce Tonn

Advanced computer simulations are being used to help visualize community redevelopment decisions. ORNL's Community of the Future Initiative (COFI) project utilizes these real-time simulations in conjunction with decision support and economic analysis tools to improve communities' decisionmaking processes. These technologies will be transferred to the nation's urban and rural empowerment zones for use by all community members.

Street scene from Harlem, New York City, including old parking garage.

This street scene from Harlem, New York City, depicts a real life decision being faced by this empowerment zone; whether to replace an old parking garage (the 3-story, brownish structure in the right foreground) with a new development.

3D computer models of existing and candidate replacement structures.

Using highly-accurate 3-D computer models, existing and planned development can be viewed realistically. These images show a model of the existing structures (including a garage) as well as the candidate replacement structures; an apartment building and a department store, respectively.

		These images show the existing and candidate replacement structures from a different perspective. The models enable interactively navigatation of the communities redesigned through the decisionmaking interface.

Elevated view showing many of the buildings in the 2-city-block model

An elevated view shows many of the buildings in the model. Actual photgraphs from Harlem were used to create realistic textures for all existing buildings in a roughly two-block area of the city.

Algorithms inform community residents about redevelopment decisions impacts.

The decisionmaking process also drives algorithms to inform community residents about the potential economic impacts of redevelopment options. Here, the user is presented a bar graph depicting the predicted job growth generated by the different options.

A system usable by everyone in the community

The system will be usable by everyone in the community: kids, grandparents, government officials, and economic redevelopers.