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The creation of informational 3D city models has become a central theme in urban studies (Amorim, 2015; Beirão et al., 2009a; Chen et al., 2018; Duarte et al., 2012; Gil et al., 2011; Gil et al., 2010; Gil & Duarte, 2008; Montenegro et al., 2011; Simonelli & Amorim, 2018; Stojanovski, 2013, 2018; Xu et al., 2014). One regularly debated concept is the city information model (CIM) which combines BIM (building information modeling) and GIS (geographic information system) technologies (Sun et al., 2020; Xu et al., 2014). Informational modeling of cities is still an emergent research field (Almeida & Andrade, 2018); the objective is to reproduce physical aspects of the city while adding information (Gaillard et al., 2020). This tool can add value to the construction of urban space and its management (Xu et al., 2014). While discussions and applications of CIM have evolved in recent years, some issues remain central. In some settings, such as Brazil, adoption of BIM is still incipient (Sotelino et al., 2020); consensus is also lacking on the tools and means of creating a 3D city information model. Some software studies have been undertaken specifically to develop new tools (Gil et al., 2010), while other research has addressed using BIM and GIS tools to develop CIMs (Chen et al., 2018). Recent advances in BIM studies have granted it a key role in CIM debates, although GIS is still the main platform used in 3D city model studies.
Brazil’s problems implementing public policies are well-known (Arretche, 2010); even though the federative design encourages innovation on local scales (Samuels & Abrucio, 2000), the organizational culture in public agencies tends to have contrasting characteristics (Melati & Janissek-Muniz, 2017), leading to fragmented good practices for the adoption of BIM, which is supported by capacity building and empowerment.
The focus of this study, Curitiba, is no different. While this city has been ranked first in the Brazil’s Index of Digital Cities (Duarte et al., 2014), it faces these same challenges related to technological implementation and management inside public agencies. This research contains two preliminary studies for further discussion: one is a set of interviews with public agencies to determine their perceptions of the challenges of implementing CIM in Curitiba according to their perceptions, while the second is a bibliometric review of research on 3D city information models in order to determine whether the literature reflects the findings of the interviews.
The main goal of this research is to develop a 3D CIM model that uses only infrastructure-related BIM tools and to create themed maps. By investigating the development process and structural findings, this investigation of how tools are applied can contribute to capacity building and empowerment, both of which are at the core of innovation processes and perceived by many of the interviewees as a necessity.