Siting offshore energy arrays: A case study using interactive marine planning

In 2010, Jack Dangermond, president of Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) spoke to the TED.com conference about ‘GeoDesign’, a concept based on a book written in the 1960s by landscape architect Ian McHarg. In this book, ‘Design with Nature’, McHarg pioneered the concept of ecological planning, showing how scientific information, maps, and more could be combined and integrated with the design process to make harmonious and responsible plans. The book inspired Jack Dangermond and it was this idea that led to the creation of the organisation Esri—the world’s most successful spatial analysis company that builds, and enables software users to build, geographic information systems (GIS).

Yet, the president of Esri did not believe this was enough. He suggested that we need to be able to harness everything we can measure—from ecology and biology to geology, hydrology, meteorology and other scientific data—and use them to design a better world, a world that considers the character of the environment and integrates it into what we design. While the name is new, the concept is ancient. The role of cartography and planning in human development has been immense (Harley and Woodward, 1987), the overall aim of which is to infuse design with science-based and value-based information to enable planners and stakeholders to facilitate holistic planning decisions.

Geodesign is ‘design in geographic space’ that provides the framework for exploring issues from an interdisciplinary point of view by combining science- and value-based designs. It is a set of technological ideas that combine geography with design. It does this by providing tools, such as simulation models, multi-criteria analysis, visualisation, spatial optimisation and real-time feedback. Using a case study, we describe the use of geodesign tools to facilitate collaborative marine planning based around a prospective tidal energy extraction site on the west coast of Scotland.