RECITYGEN is a tool aiming at enhancing urban design through participatory methods. Its primary goal is to enable collaboration between residents and urban planners, ensuring that community needs and preferences are incorporated into urban development. The tool harnesses latent diffusion models and the Segment Anything Model (SAM) to create an accessible platform for public input in urban design. Users interact with RECITYGEN by uploading street view images to its online interface and using SAM to mark areas for improvement. A key feature is the tool’s AI-driven visualization: users provide text descriptions of desired changes, and RECITYGEN uses a latent diffusion model to quickly generate a visual preview of these changes.

The tool, first tested in a Beijing urban renewal project, received positive feedback. This suggests it is effective in aligning urban design with the expectations of the public. Future plans include broadening its application, improving user interaction, and encouraging more community participation in the urban design process.