S.O.U.P. – a research project started in 2001 – represented one of the first attempts to employ advanced digital tools for mapping and planning of complex urban conditions. The methodology draws from the fast evolving world of digital tools as well as post-structuralist philosophy.

Roberto Bottazzi researched and developed S.O.U.P. as a proposal that would move urban design beyond the outdated tenets of modern planning. Working from the premise that modernism is based on zoning and quantitative criteria, he structured S.O.U.P. to focus on qualitative/relational criteria based on interconnection and exchange. The notion of 'urban prototyping' (derived from advanced manufacturing techniques) was introduced to bridge the distance between forecasting and modelling to invite people to play, interact and ultimately innovate.

Bottazzi presented S.O.U.P. at two conferences in 2006: 'Surfacing Urbanisms: Recent approaches to Metropolitan Design' at the ACSA West Conference and 'Sustainable Solutions for the Information Society', 11th International Conference on Urban Planning and Regional Development in the Information Society in Vienna.