ABSTRACT
This chapter considers future developments in the use of virtual reality (VR) systems for visualizing the city and its operations. Most people globally live in urban areas and rapid population growth in cities presents built environment professionals with the challenge of responding to growing demands for housing, transportation and resources. Through initiatives to digitally model and simulate the physical environment, users and services, VR systems provide professionals with visual interfaces to digital information about this environment. Early experiments with VR in the 1990s sought to simulate behaviours, such as the movement of people, vehicles and goods to facilitate professional decision-making. In the 2000s, substantial growth in computing power led to consumer developments in online VR, 3D movies and mobile phones. Before the introduction of Google Earth and Google Street View, a number of start-ups and firms explored the use of VR systems with interfaces similar to 3D games to enhance navigation in the built environment.
