194
7
Further Guidelines Supporting
the Planning Phase
In order to design the indexes, the need to implement a greater number of potentials,
for calculating the environmental value of the building lot while trying to keep its
use suitably simple, was discussed for a long time. While designing the software, it
was decided to make some simplifications and not to implement certain physical
aspects. The indexes and calculation methods implemented could be improved even
more, in order to remove the simplification applied and refine the processing, also
including all the necessary physical issues; in this way, though, the immediate applicability of a town-planning index would be lost and you would have a calculation
software programme with an enormous potential, but only to be used by suitably
trained experienced users. Although at the moment it is not possible to exclude such
a future development, for the time being the structure of the indexes has willingly
been processed in such a way as to make it as simple and self-explanatory as possible. Although the indexes require much more complex processes than those developed for similar indexes already in existence, in the data entry phase the approach
has not been altered. Like in the other indexes, observations are put forward about a
building lot, the materials present in it and their specific sizes. This approach identifies the building lot as an independent item, without putting it into the existing urban
context.
This approach is a non-banal simplification of the context analysed, which has
two limits:
• since the context in which the lot lies is not known, it is hypothesized that the
solar irradiation conditions in the lot are not affected by elements outside the lot
itself, like buildings, rows of trees, etc. This simplification makes it possible to
apply the same theoretical maximum irradiation to each lot and, as a consequence, provides output values comparable among the various lots. The negative
side of this approach is not seeing a lot within its specific context; for instance,
although the indexes can assess the positive effect due to photovoltaic panels,
installing them on a building would make no sense if that building stood in the
shade of a skyscraper in the hours of the day when sun exposure is maximum;
• although the context in which the building lot lies is not known, the indexes will
merely be used for analysing the impacts caused by the lot “within the lot” and
do not allow to check the relationship between impacts caused by the lot and the
surrounding lots. Therefore, the indexes cannot simulate how proximity to other
7
Further Guidelines Supporting
the Planning Phase
In order to design the indexes, the need to implement a greater number of potentials,
for calculating the environmental value of the building lot while trying to keep its
use suitably simple, was discussed for a long time. While designing the software, it
was decided to make some simplifications and not to implement certain physical
aspects. The indexes and calculation methods implemented could be improved even
more, in order to remove the simplification applied and refine the processing, also
including all the necessary physical issues; in this way, though, the immediate applicability of a town-planning index would be lost and you would have a calculation
software programme with an enormous potential, but only to be used by suitably
trained experienced users. Although at the moment it is not possible to exclude such
a future development, for the time being the structure of the indexes has willingly
been processed in such a way as to make it as simple and self-explanatory as possible. Although the indexes require much more complex processes than those developed for similar indexes already in existence, in the data entry phase the approach
has not been altered. Like in the other indexes, observations are put forward about a
building lot, the materials present in it and their specific sizes. This approach identifies the building lot as an independent item, without putting it into the existing urban
context.
This approach is a non-banal simplification of the context analysed, which has
two limits:
• since the context in which the lot lies is not known, it is hypothesized that the
solar irradiation conditions in the lot are not affected by elements outside the lot
itself, like buildings, rows of trees, etc. This simplification makes it possible to
apply the same theoretical maximum irradiation to each lot and, as a consequence, provides output values comparable among the various lots. The negative
side of this approach is not seeing a lot within its specific context; for instance,
although the indexes can assess the positive effect due to photovoltaic panels,
installing them on a building would make no sense if that building stood in the
shade of a skyscraper in the hours of the day when sun exposure is maximum;
• although the context in which the building lot lies is not known, the indexes will
merely be used for analysing the impacts caused by the lot “within the lot” and
do not allow to check the relationship between impacts caused by the lot and the
surrounding lots. Therefore, the indexes cannot simulate how proximity to other