Detecting Expertise Influence on Teamwork in Sustainable Urban Design Workshops through a System Model

Abstract

The design of sustainable urban communities near transportation hubs, such as train stations, may play a vital role in enhancing neighborhoods by fostering new jobs, encouraging mixed-use developments, and promoting a cleaner environment. The engagement of experts and non-experts is often promoted as part of the urban planning process, yet workshops, while motivating, do not necessarily affect the systems design and long-term sustainability of the neighborhood in a substantive way.

Prior studies present methods for detecting teamwork during the design of complex systems, including model-based co-creation and urban design workshops. While interactive model-based workshops promote increased engagement of non-experts, the traditional role of experts in framing the design options and the workshop dialogue remain. This thesis research seeks to examine how expertise shapes decision-making in urban sustainability contexts using enhanced system models.

The research approach focuses on sustainable urban design workshops for compact city development, following three key steps. First, a neighborhood system model incorporating a commute flow simulator is developed to support collaborative exploration and design decision-making processes. Second, during a pilot experimental workshop, participants are divided into control and treatment groups, challenged to design a vibrant community with economic, social, and environmental benefits. The treatment group receives an expert-proposed, advocated solution to assess its impact on exploration and decision-making. Finally, results are analyzed using Large Language Models (LLMs) and statistical methods to assess how expert-driven solutions impact teamwork collaboration, decision-making speed, and final design alignment with the advocated solution.

While the pilot workshop primarily serves to validate the approach and test the methodology, conclusive results cannot be drawn due to its exploratory nature. Nevertheless, this research successfully developed a robust urban design system model, enabling stakeholders to generate innovative solutions that foster a thriving community. Additionally, it established a methodology to advance the understanding of expertise in teamwork dynamics, laying a strong foundation for future studies in teamwork analysis and urban design challenges.