What's up with geodesign lately?

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06-18-2014 02:04 PM
ShannonMcElvaney
Occasional Contributor
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Geodesign is continuing to grow, both as a framework and a technology, to support informed, evidence- and performance-based planning and design. Geodesign is an elegant systems approach to planning and design that uses stakeholder input, geospatial modeling, impact simulations, and real-time feedback to facilitate holistic designs and wise decisions. It is truly a trans-disciplinary approach to problem solving, so it appeals to geospatial technologists, scientists, sociologists, planners, urban designers, landscape architects, to name a few.

There are now two books on geodesign that are being translated into several languages, and numerous geodesign conferences and events occurring around the world (US, the Netherlands, China, Mexico, Turkey, Japan). Also, within the last year, a number of universities started both undergraduate and graduate geodesign programs with the vision of creating the next generation of design professionals. In August, one such university, Penn State, is launching a geodesign MOOC, which will be the largest geodesign training event in the world thus far. And there may be another MOOC announced out of Europe!

Esri continues to invest in supporting this emerging community and the development of geodesign capabilities in its software. GeoPlanner for ArcGIS, the first web-based application to take full advantage of the geodesign workflow was just released into the Esri Marketplace, and we are continuing to work on several desktop implementations that support both 2D and 3D geodesign workflows. We have also launched Practicing Geodesign with ArcGIS, a 2-day instructor led course that uses ArcGIS for Desktop and CityEngine to conduct an applied, workflow-based training experience. And we are working on designing training courses for CityEngine as I write this post.

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About the Author
Geodesign advocate, geographer, writer, musician. Interested in designing livable, sustainable, resilient communities. Currently, I'm the Industry Manager for Community Development at Esri, covering geodesign, urban and regional planning, economic development, sustainable development, and smart cities.