To evaluate each roof’s potential, RoofScape integrates a range of datasets, including the city’s digital twin, building-specific data (such as height, area, and energy efficiency), and municipal information, such as building function and age. It also considers area-specific factors, like proximity to public transport, green corridors, flood risks, and the urban heat island effect. This data-driven approach ensures that decisions are tailored to the unique characteristics and needs of each rooftop. The outcome of this analysis can be further affected by the user, who is given a series of sliders to adjust priority levels for different rooftop uses.

Born out of a demand from Rotterdam’s municipality to unlock the potential of its city’s roofs, RoofScape proposes the methodologies to do so through detailed and informative simulated scenarios. By visualising the city’s capacities and calculating the multiple possible functions of rooftops, the prototype was designed to facilitate their exploration and to serve as a guideline in the crafting of future rooftop policies. The desire to guide and steer policies in a positive way would thus be done with the assistance of RoofScape.