Two Unbelievable and Free Time-Savers for Urban Planners or Just An Urban Planner’s Paradise

Written By Rotem Lewinsohn

Two exceptional section generator tools that are free to use online. Along with other tools of their kind, these two will certainly make your life a bit easier, allowing you to create many street sections in seconds without ever needing to sketch anything from scratch!

We are delighted to introduce two essential online tools that are here to make a difference in our lives! These open-sourced tools enable urban planners and non-planners alike to envision better cities and communities with the power of urban design. You can imagine, plan, edit, design, remix, and even share your street. Try adding more green areas and add cycling paths, widen sidewalks, and minimize traffic lanes, try balancing existing street sections to create more pedestrian friendly cities and learn how all of this can impact your community.

Streetmix

STREETMIX is an open-sourced online tool that is quick, simple, intuitive, and easy to use, that creates beautiful urban sections in seconds! In a few minutes you can create various options by editing, switching, and trying new features. This handy tool can help urban planners and decision makers express their ideas without even sketching. Once you’re ready to export your urban masterpiece, you simply export your sections in transparent PNG layers and easily insert them into your graphic design setup for your own presentation.

Abu Dhabi Urban Street and Utility Design Tool

This online design tool simultaneously generates urban sections in adjacency to their plans, allowing you to envision different streets ranging in their scales such as boulevards, avenues and smaller streets. You can change lane widths, choose different types of transportation, different vegetation or edit and plan underground infrastructure. The highly customizable sections have integrated design features that enable customizing the landscaping with different tiling, textures and colors, all of which will allow you to fulfill the street sections of your dreams. Another exciting feature is the street simulator where your section “goes live” to help observe the traffic flow, cycling and pedestrian flow and to determine whether the street’s design facilitates your urban vision.

Ultimately, the tool can export your work into different formats where you can continue to work on it in other software such as AutoCAD, Illustrator etc. to fully customize and add some finishing touches.

Although we’ve compiled a short 3-minute clip of both section generators, we couldn’t possibly go through all of the different design features. Therefore, we encourage everyone to explore these tools, tell your friends and help us spread the word about these incredible, useful, and beautiful time savers!

Need more FREE objects and characters for your sections? 
You can find them here. Also, you may find useful our paid Mega-Packs.

Sources: https://streetmix.net/, https://usdm.upc.gov.ae/USDM/