Some Drivers towards 3D Digital Master-Plan Visualisation in the UK

Master-planning in general, more particularly 3Dinterpretative visualisation of Master-plans, has not been the norm in the UK planning process. However the advent of the new Localism Bill, proceeding through the UK parliament, gives some indication that these will become much more common in English practice. It is argued that English planning departments will need to move towards implementing 3D Planning constraint exploration tools and standards for which they have little experience. In German planning in particular there have been many initiatives that point the way towards standards for master plan visualisation. SmartCodes in the US indicate a similar approach for regulatory checking. The Localism Bill is likely also to require substantial inclusive consultation and collaboration with neighbourhood groups. Tools for inclusive collaborative engagement were trialled in the VEPs Interreg IIIB project. This paper predicts that the combination of these or similar approaches will become necessary to cope with the demand.