Abstract<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Starting in 1987, team members at the Unit for Housing and Urbanization at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design developed a pilot suite of three computer software programs for urban management: PROJECT<\/strong>, AFFORD<\/strong>, and PALMS<\/strong> (Parcel-Based Land Management System). These programs were data simulation models designed to assist international public officials in assessing physical factors and financial resources for housing development<\/strong> and land planning<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Documents below include an AFFORD<\/strong> user manual, a PROJECT<\/strong> user manual and description, and a PALMS<\/strong> progress report, with maps and slides. Supporting documents include three student reports from the 1988 Design Studio, addressing the use of computerized systems: “Information Systems in the Developing World,” “Feasibility of Housing Surveys,” and “Long Term Human Activities and Ecosystem Responses.”<\/p>\n\n\n Timeline: 1989-1993<\/p>
— 1989 — Mona Serageldin created \u201cAFFORD,\u201d <\/strong>a computer simulation model designed for public planning agencies, for making data assessments on physical standards and financing terms for the production and delivery of housing for limited income groups.
— 1987-1988 — Fran\u00e7ois Vigier created \u201cPROJECT,\u201d <\/strong>a computer simulation model for programming and phasing large-scale public projects (housing developments, roadways or service corridors, regional rehabilitation). The model allowed the user to easily explore data interactions — among physical, economic and financial variables — to determine the feasibility of projects.
— 1991 — Jonathan Corson-Rikert created “PALMS\u201d (Parcel-Based Land Management System) <\/strong>as a geographic information system database — and an applications library consisting of commonly encountered urban management decisions for planners.
More context on the Unit’s work with GIS can be found in: \u201cGeographic Information Systems: The Spatial Dimension of Urban Information Management<\/strong>,” by Fran\u00e7ois Vigier, Jonathan Corson-Rikert, and Joy Hecht, 1989<\/a> (Project ID: 1989_07_002). This essay reviewed the emerging field of GIS as of 1989 and the potential applications for urban planning.
Although not included below, Mona Serageldin and Sherif Lotfi also created a fourth program, “COMPUTE,”<\/strong> in 1993. This analytical model assessed the economic impact of urban land development projects in terms of four key indicators: employment generation, leverage ratio, NPV, and IRR, with a sensitivity analysis.
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