Procedural Modeling in Urban Digital Twins as a Tool for Visualization, Analysis, and Public Engagement: Examining a Housing Policy in California

This article showcases the versatility of procedural modeling techniques in urban planning beyond their traditional use in visualization, such as an analytical tool and potentially a public engagement tool. The study demonstrates the potential of a specific California housing development state policy, Senate Bill 9 (SB9), which authorizes certain property owners to divide their land into two lots and erect two residences on each. Results of a California city’s parametric modeling indicate that procedural modeling can visualize the implications of land use regulation in an analytical and intelligible way to planning practitioners and the public.