Re-Imagining Urban Spaces with DALL-E 2 AI
A Prompt Book for City Planners, Designers, Developers, and Citizen Activists
I made this short prompt book to help city planners, designers, developers, and citizen activists learn how to use the DALL-E AI image-generation tool to re-imagine urban spaces.
I find DALL-E 2 to be a useful tool for creating images that help me visualize how places in my own community might look in different futures. Playing with this tool was so much fun (and productive at generating discussion) that I wanted to share what I learned. What would that empty lot look like if it were a mid-rise condo complex? A retail development? A public park? By uploading your city photos to DALL-E 2 and experimenting with the prompts in this book, you can find out.
Note: I made this book as a fun side project and it is free.
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I made this as a fun side project - and with the hope that it would help me connect with likeminded people. I would also love to keep in contact and send you a copy of the next version when it (eventually) becomes available.
What’s in the Book?
A step-by step guide showing how to take photos of your city and edit them using DALL-E 2
Tips for generating images to help you imagine street re-designs, residential developments, commercial developments, and new public spaces
The simple DALL-E 2 prompt recipe I’ve found most effective for generating city images
Dozens and dozens of prompt words for streets, developments, placemaking, aesthetics, etc.
Ideas for how to use the images you & DALLE-2 create to generate real change in your city
28 pages of general delight for city enthusiasts
Sample Pages
How I’m Using These Prompts to Re-Imagine My Own Neighborhood
There's an empty lot directly across from my house in a very walkable downtown neighborhood. I'm using this series of AI images to help me & my neighbors imagine how it might be redeveloped as something other than a single-family residence. I've been trying to take a "speculative design" approach & have fun with it!