Best Urban Planning Software in Canada

Graphisoft Archicad - Design and deliver great buildings. Design: Unleash your creativity with the leading BIM software developed by architects like you. Focus on what you do best — designing great architecture — thanks to powerful algorithmic design tools and large model support. Visualize: Archicad’s professional architectural visualization tools translate your conceptual designs into compelling imagery of future buildings. Bring your models to life, inspire the audience, and invite stakeholders to engage with your designs. Collaborate: Work with your team and other disciplines around the corner or around the world on projects of any size and complexity. Open standards and workflows mean collaboration is guaranteed — regardless of what software other team members are using. Document: Complete, out-of-the-box documentation tools combined with a powerful publishing workflow that complies with local BIM requirements means you can focus on your designs, not the paperwork.

Hektar is a cloud-based generative design software tailored for early-stage urban planning, pre-design, and schematic design. Developed by Parametric, it assists architects and urban planners in creating better projects by handling the inherent complexity of critical design phases. The platform utilizes evolutionary algorithms and artificial generative intelligence to produce feasible concepts and well-grounded estimates, methodically refining user inputs from rough frameworks to nuanced details. Hektar's toolset offers geometrical and geographical awareness, allowing users to define crucial aspects such as site access points, non-buildable zones, and user-defined streets. Additionally, it provides numerical inputs for further control over project parameters, including building depth, greenery, and parking. The software processes complex information, such as light and sun, from the beginning of the geometry pipeline, generating proposals.

A building doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The setting, its environment, the subtle details — they all matter to bring your design to life. To create atmosphere. To give spaces a sense of scale and possibility. Lumion makes it refreshingly easy to transform any CAD model into an experience you can feel. You can shape entire landscapes and add a world of context to your designs. Make spaces feel real with fine-detailed nature, detailed skies and high-quality materials. Convey atmosphere and emotion with stunning lighting, weather and animation effects. Lumion is architectural rendering software that makes it easy to convey how your projects will translate into real-life experiences and emotions. Fast, intuitive and reliable, Lumion fits seamlessly in any design workflow, making rendering a more satisfying and enjoyable experience. Atmospheric spotlights. Realism-inducing decals. A scene-building experience that’s faster than ever.

Spend less time searching for data and working with fragmented tools. Import your site proposal and access all relevant data sets in one space. From feasibility to site acquisition, Autodesk Forma (formerly Spacemaker) empowers you to make confident data and insight-driven decisions. Work digitally from day one. Improve the quality and speed of the early planning phase. Never compromise! Discover ways to optimize for density and living qualities. You shouldn’t have to wait weeks every time you want to assess the living quality of your site. With Autodesk Forma you can improve your site proposal at any time, and instantly understand the impact of the changes made. Don’t settle for second best when it comes to your creativity. With Autodesk Forma you can discover and compare more options for your site than ever before. Autodesk Forma offers a single space where architects, developers, consultants, and municipalities can work together effectively and efficiently.

TestFit’s powerful algorithms allow you to produce buildings in seconds; not weeks. You need to know if a prospective site is going to work for you – fast. With TestFit you get a building and real-time financials to solve deals in minutes, not weeks. Feasibility studies are a double-edged sword; you need them to win work, but it’s a challenge to get paid for the work put in. With TestFit’s parametric building configurator technology, you can automate the boring (we see you, parking stall allocation) and spend your time where it counts. You want to know if a prospective site is going to work for you – fast. Numbers tell most of the story, but not all of it. Beyond Excel, you need a building to solve a deal and to present a vision. Create your vision for your land in just a few clicks & get prospects excited about the possibilities.