Landscape Design Methodology: Pattern formation through the use of Cellular Automata

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop a landscape design methodology based on the use of a Cellular Automaton (CA) algorithm in order to introduce the plant-plant interaction factor in the plantating design of a site. This design methodology introduces the relationships between neighboring individuals of different species as parameters for the project. These parameters are codified in order to define the Cellular Automaton rules. Parameters related to the growth and morphologic characteristics of the species as well as programmatic and aesthetic parameters of the project may be introduced as rules that influence the behavior of the CA algorithm. The algorithm developed is called NNB-CA (Natural Neighbouring Behaviour Cellular Automata) and it is based on John Conway’s original “Game of Life” CA. The design methodology takes in account site conditions and is developed in two phases. In the first one, starting with a list of species, a preselection of species is done taking into account the site’s parameters and it defines which species are able to populate on each area of the discretized site. In the second phase, the CA algorithm is run applying the relational rules with the selected species. This iterative process is applied until it reaches an equilibrium state. Rules related to the competition between species according to their growing characteristics are studied comparing an analog/natural evolutive process using rapidly developing plants and the corresponding digital process that simulates the analog one.