
RoofScape
With the acceleration of urban density and rapidly evolving cities, how can we reimagine the functionality of rooftops and maximise their potential to deliver a sustainable and exciting future? Developed as an open-source software that is designed to help architects, urban planners, policy makers, and citizens unlock the untapped potential of rooftop spaces, RoofScape addresses a pressing need to accommodate rising populations without expanding outwards.
Worldwide, growing cities are often presented with a choice between sprawling outwards, or densifying by demolishing existing low-rise buildings to replace them with something taller. In an era where sustainable development is increasingly urgent, rooftop extensions present a third option that enables vertical growth while avoiding the high carbon footprint of demolition and reconstruction. By helping to convert rooftops into functional spaces, RoofScape combats urban sprawl, enhances density, and opens new opportunities for green spaces, energy production, and sustainable living.
Developed in collaboration with Superworld and Rotterdam’s municipality, RoofScape offers the practical solution to maximise the functionality of existing infrastructure. Rooftop extensions can house new residential or commercial spaces, generate renewable energy, support green areas, and enhance biodiversity. RoofScape thus contributes to a more sustainable urban environment, addressing pressing urban issues while reducing the environmental impact of further expansion.
The software works by assessing the potential of each roof across seven categories: housing, green spaces, energy generation, rainwater collection, technical utilities, social areas, and transportation. It uses a color-coded system to categorize rooftops based on what they can support. For example, roofs that can accommodate residential or office units are marked in purple, while those suitable for energy infrastructure like solar panels or windmills are coded yellow. Green roofs, which support biodiversity, are marked in green, and blue indicates rooftops ideal for rainwater collection. Other categories include grey for technical utilities, red for social spaces, and orange for mobility enhancements, such as transportation hubs or bike storage.
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.
RoofScape has the potential to evolve into a valuable asset for an expanding range of stakeholders – not only the municipality but also its citizens. Moreover, the framework originally developed for the city of Rotterdam can also be expanded and adapted to other cities around Europe. With most of Europe’s urban landscape facing similar challenges – housing shortages, sustainable goals, and the need to improve public spaces – by customising the software to fit the unique context of different cities, local authorities could leverage data-driven insight to transform and reimagine the potential of rooftops.
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Credits
- Architect
- Design Team
- Partners