Spatial Representation of Vienna’s Street-Level Environment

As conventional cadastral maps only show building perimeters, they contain no information about a city’s internal structure—that is, about the complex interplay of architecture and its social and economic engagement. Urban planning seems to have little consideration for what goes on inside the buildings lining a street. The method of Urban Parterre Modeling described in this chapter refers to the city’s ground floor as a holistic urban system, covering both built-up and non-built-up areas. Street, ground floor, and inner courtyard are treated as separate entities, which brings out the interrelations between them, as it becomes clear that actual and potential ground-floor uses directly impact the correlated public street space. The chapter describes the development of the model and its present and future applications.