4 years
Digital Technologies & AI
Delivering predictive,
real-time simulations
Project Duration:
01/01/2025 - 31/12/2028
18 Partners
Behavioural Science
Understanding community responses through data and modelling
Collaborating across the value chain for urban sustainability
UrbanAIR Partners
Urban
Planning & Policy
Frameworks for sustainable, adaptive cities
Project Duration:
01/01/2025 - 31/12/2028
Environmental Monitoring
High-resolution climate and pollution data
Collaborating across the value chain for urban sustainability
Digital Technologies & AI
Predictive, real-time simulations and digital twin development
A diverse network spanning
the EU and beyond
Behavioural Science
Insights into community responses through and modelling
Focused implementation in Antwerp and Barcelona
Engaging cities in knowledge
sharing and co-creation
4 years
Urban Planning & Policy
Developing frameworks for sustainable cities
18 Partners
Environmental Monitoring
Developing frameworks for sustainable cities
Collaborating across the value chain for urban sustainability
Building Urban Resilience Across Europe
UrbanAIR unites 18 leading organizations from 11 countries, combining strengths in research, policy, technology, communication, and real-world implementation. Together, our consortium delivers practical, integrated solutions for cities facing air quality, heat, and climate challenges. Our collaborative approach ensures that every tool and insight is ready for use in diverse urban settings.
4 years
Digital Technologies & AI
Delivering predictive, real-time simulations
Project Duration:
01/01/2025 - 31/12/2028
18 Partners
Behavioural Science
Understanding community responses through data and modelling
Collaborating across the value chain for urban sustainability
Areas of Expertise
Our Shared Role
Each partner contributes unique expertise—from advanced modelling and tool co-design to community outreach and policy development. This diversity ensures that UrbanAIR’s solutions are both innovative and practical for city leaders and planners
Meet the Consortium
Netherlands
Delft University of Technology is the largest university of technology in the Netherlands, with an average of 350 PhD thesis and almost 6000 journal, conference papers and books annually. TUDelft has been awarded the HR Excellence in Research logo, being therefore acknowledged by the European Commission, and it is ranked 56th in the overall Times Higher Educations World University Rankings in 2024, while 13th within the global Engineering and Technology
rankings. The university has a large proportion of international staff, with a settled process to facilitate the welcoming of international researchers from all over the world. In addition, the university has a close link with industry, with extensive collaborations with companies in various sectors, and several entrepreneurial spin-offs which started originally at the university
and became renown companies nowadays.
Role in the project
-
Urban geometry reconstruction as well as wind simulations that include uncertainties related to meteorological conditions for inflow and stratification of the atmosphere.
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Development of behavioural models in relation to adaptation to heat and the impact of those behaviour on air quality.
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Scenario-based decision support and explainability.
-
Coordination of the UrbanAIR project
People involved
-
Prof. Dr. ir. Femke Vossepoel - Scientific coordinator, theme lead Uncertainty Quantification
-
Dr. Clara Garcia-Sanchez - Associate Professor, Principal Investigator, Theme 2
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Prof.dr. Jantien Stoter - Principal Investigator, Theme 2
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Prof.dr. Tina Comes - Principal Investigator, theme 1&7
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Dr Amineh Ghorbani - Principal Investigator, theme lead Behavioural Modelling, theme 5
-
Prof.dr. Tatiana Filatova - Principal Investigator, theme 5
-
Dr. Pier Siebesma - Principal Investigator, theme 2
-
Anna Gralka - Innocation & Impact Centre, project coordination
-
Norway
NORCE is an independent research institute that conducts research for both public and private sectors, to facilitate informed and sustainable choices for the future. We deliver research and innovation in energy, health care, climate, the environment, society and technology. Our solutions address key challenges for society and contribute to value creation on the local, national and global levels.
Role in the project:Uncertainty modeling and data assimilation in LES models.
People involved:Geir Evensen
Germany
Technische Universität Ilmenau is a leading research university known for its innovative spirit, interdisciplinary focus, and welcoming campus environment. With a strong emphasis on engineering, information technology, economic sciences, media, mathematics, data science and natural sciences, TU Ilmenau conducts cutting-edge research in areas such as functional materials and technologies, intelligent sensing and precision metrology, and complex systems and data-intensive engineering.
Supported by unique infrastructure, the university drives innovations in energy systems, autonomous systems, life sciences, and production technologies. It is consistently recognized as one of Germany’s most patent-rich institutions and ranks among the top for third-party funding in engineering sciences, reflecting its status as a regional and global leader in research and development with an impressive network of over 250 spin-offs since 1990.
Students can choose from a wide range of future and sustainability-oriented bachelor’s and master’s programs characterized by their strong practical orientation and integration of research from the start. They benefit from modern facilities, personalized support, and opportunities to work on interdisciplinary projects in collaboration with industry, ensuring excellent career prospects both nationally and internationally. The vibrant campus life is enriched by students from over 100 nations, who actively contribute to the university’s unique cultural scene.
Role in the project:
Uncertainty quantification and simulation for various control variables in digital twins
People Involved:
Prof. Dr. Jana de Wiljes - Principal InvestigatorDr. Gottfried Hastermann - Senior Researcher
Belgium
VITO (Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek N.V.) is a leading European research and technology organization in the field of sustainabilityand applied research. Based in Belgium, VITO focuses on cleantech, sustainable development, climate resilience, urban planning, and technological innovation to support both public and private sectors in achieving a sustainable future.
Role in the project
VITO plays a key role as a research performer and technology developer in the project. It contributes expertise in urban climate modeling (high-resolution simulations of urban heat and air quality), climate adaptation and mitigation strategies, advanced computational methods and digital twins for urban planning, and stakeholder engagement and policy recommendations
Key People
Nele Veldeman - Project managerDirk Lauwaet - Senior researcher - heat stress
Jorge Sousa - Senior researcher - air quality
Ireland
Since our foundation in 1946, Arup has grown to be one of the largest consultancy firms in Ireland working across every aspect of today’s built environment. We are an independent firm with over 700 designers, planners, engineers, project managers, consultants and technical specialists across our four offices.
Working to deliver a sustainable future, we have built a reputation for bringing global expertise to an increasingly broad range of projects across all areas of the built environment. From designing buildings and infrastructure, to harnessing digital insights and providing strategic advice backed by our technical expertise, we work with our clients to solve their most complex challenges and turn exciting ideas into tangible reality.
Netherlands
KNMI is the national meteorological service of the Netherlands. Within the ACCORD consortium we maintain and develop our operational numerical weather prediction model, HARMONIE-AROME. Within the Destination Earth on-Demand Extremes project (Part of the DestinE extremes digital twin) KNMI works with other institutes to develop and run this model at very high resolution in an on-demand framework.
Germany
As one of Germany’s nine leading technical universities, Leibniz University Hannover (LUH) embraces its responsibility to contribute to sustainable, peaceful, and ethical solutions for society’s most pressing future challenges. Inspired by the interdisciplinary and international legacy of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, we commit to tackling global challenges with innovative, sustainable approaches. The Institute of Meteorology and Climatology (IMUK) at Leibniz University Hannover is a leading research and advisory center for German and EU weather, aviation, and climate authorities as well as industry, specializing in applied meteorology, climate dynamics, and environmental interactions.
Role in the project:
Preparing and adapting high‑resolution urban models for seamless integration into the DestinE platform and the construction of Digital Twins by generating precise 3D urban geometries and dynamic boundary conditions, followed by high‑resolution simulations that resolve three‑dimensional turbulence across urban scales.
People Involved:
Björn Maronga - Principal investigator
Nooshin Nowzamani - Researcher
United Kingdom
Imperial College London is a world-leading university for science, technology, engineering, medicine and business (STEMB). Across our London campuses, and throughout our international network, we use science to tackle global challenges. We were founded in 1907 with a mission ‘To be useful’, but we know that before anyone can usefully change something, they first need to understand it. That’s what we do here: We use science to try to understand more of the universe, and improve the lives of more people in it.
Role in the project:
Preparing and adapting high‑resolution urban models for seamless integration into the DestinE platform and the construction of Digital Twins by generating precise 3D urban geometries and dynamic boundary conditions, followed by high‑resolution simulations that resolve three‑dimensional turbulence across urban scales.
People Involved:
Björn Maronga - Principal investigator
Nooshin Nowzamani - Researcher
France
The University of Toulouse ranks among the world's leading universities. It has a history dating back to the 13th century and is among some of the oldest universities in the world. It was officially founded in 1969 by a merger between the faculties of medicine, pharmaceuticals and science. Its wide range of laboratories and high quality training courses in the fields of science, health, sport, technology and engineering have earned it the reputation of being one of the world's leading scientific universities for over 50 years now.
Role in the project:
City modelling
People involved:
Jean-Pierre Chaboureau - Project Lead
The Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) is the leading supercomputing center in Spain.It houses MareNostrum, one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, was a founding and hosting member of the former European HPC infrastructure PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), and is now hosting entity for EuroHPC JU, the Joint Undertaking that leads large-scale investments and HPC provision in Europe. The mission of BSC is to research, develop and manage information technologies in order to facilitate scientific progress. BSC combines HPC service provision and R&D into both computer and computational science (life, earth and engineering sciences) under one roof, and currently has over 1000 staff from 60 countries.
The Department of Earth Sciences of BSC-CNS, BSC-ES henceforth (bsc.es/earth-sciences) is one of the most active groups in air quality and atmospheric composition modeling, climate prediction and climate services in Europe. It is structured into five distinct but interacting research groups: Atmospheric Composition, Climate Prediction, Global Health Resilience, Computational Earth Sciences, and Earth System Services. In the latter group, important work is being done to co-produce climate and environmental services by integrating different knowledge sources to bridge the gap between science and society. This involves exploring societal needs, exchanging knowledge and developing and evaluating new knowledge, together with stakeholders to achieve user-cen
Role in the project
Tailoring UrbanAir service design to user needs and evaluating the UrbanAIR implemented services and their co-production processesOverseeing the development and evaluation of data-fusion and super-resolution methods for air quality and urban heat.
Key People
Jan Mateu Armengol - Principal investigatorSam Pickard - Senior researcher
Cristina Carnerero - Researcher
Alvaro Criado Romero - Researcher
Florence Gignac - Researcher
Arianna Cristiani - Project manager
Spain
Cyprus
Future Needs Management Consulting Ltd is an interdisciplinary socio-technical research and technology development SME. The staff of Future Needs has a long record of successful project management and coordination as well as design and development of digital services, policy evaluation, business development and science communication. Future Needs specialises in shaping the development of technology to best suit the needs of practitioners/end-users. As a team, we bring the latest technology trends and aspects of creativity, (youth) entrepreneurship and start-up mentality to projects we are involved in. We help our clients elicit user requirements for the development of new products and services, we develop R&D roadmaps aiming at product and service commercialisation, and we ensure security standards compliance for services and products we work on before they hit the market. We help our clients from the public and not-for-profit sectors to carry out Impact Assessments and policy evaluation studies, while ensuring secure, ethical and privacy-considerate processes and following the “better regulation guidelines” of the European Commission. Finally, we leverage our relationship with a variety of stakeholders ranging from technical specialists and key industry players to policy-makers and citizen groups when offering dissemination and community-building services. Information technology & telecommunications, education, migration, healthcare, transport, regional development, culture and finance.
Role in the project
Dissemination, Communication & Exploitation Leader
Key PeopleVasilis Bouronikos - Dissemination, Communication & Exploitation Manager
Lina Giannivasili - Project Manager
Eva Palaiologk - User Experience
Chariton Palaiologk - Project Management Quality Assurance
Anna Palaiologk - Finance & Legal
Georgia Nikolakopoulou - Dissemination Quality Assurance
Panos Chatzimathios - Graphic Design
Germany
The University of Freiburg is one of the oldest and most renowned universities in Germany. It covers a broad interdisciplinary spectrum and regularly takes top positions in prestigious rankings. The University of Freiburg’s Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources is one of the top international addresses for research and teaching on human-environment systems. Its research focus is on natural resources (use, protection, safeguarding), global change (climate change, ecosystems, land use, globalisation), livelihoods (forest, water, soil, air, biodiversity), transformation towards sustainability (social-ecological-technical systems) as well as natural hazards and environmental risks (resilience, adaptation).
Role in the project:
Evaluation data for modeling case studies
People involved:
Andreas Christen - Project Lead, Svenja Ludwig - Scientist
Sweden
SMHI, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, is an expert agency under the Ministry of Climate and Enterprise. SMHI has a global outlook and a vital mission to forecast changes in weather, water and climate. With a scientific foundation, we use knowledge, research and services to contribute to a more sustainable society. Every hour of every day, all year round. SMHI offer qualified products and services that contribute to good urban planning, reduced environmental impact, economic efficiency, and reduced societal vulnerability—both today and in the future. It research and development helps decision-makers at many levels of society to make informed and science-based decisions for a future-proof and safe society.
Role in the project:
Providing forcing data for urban/street simulatons; this includes addaptation of the Numerical Weather Prediction system towards hectometric scale grid meshes (100-200 m grid spacing) with a subhourly coupling frequescy and output and the consequent adjustment of the subgrid-scale parameterizations
People involved:
Ulf Andrae - Senior Research Scientist, Metodija (Meto) Shapkalijevski - Senior Research Scientist, post-doc (tbd)
Netherlands
R-Cities is the world’s leading urban resilience network. Our staff, including our network of Chief Resilience Officers on the ground in over 100 cities around the world, have been working on urban resilience for nearly a decade. Through knowledge sharing, partnerships, and funding we empower cities to implement programs that raise awareness, reduce vulnerability, and mobilize investment. Our network provides the support necessary to build a safer, more equitable, and sustainable future for all.
Role in the project:
User engagement and User Committe Meetings coordinator
People involved:
Leon Kapetas - Lead
Federico Aili - Manager
Nicole Ponce - Associate- Comms Support
France
Météo-France is the official French meteorological administration, also offering services to Andorra and Monaco. It has the powers of the state and can exercise them in relation to meteorology. Météo-France is in charge of observing, studying, and forecasting weather and monitoring snowpack. The organization also issues weather warnings for the Metropole and the overseas territories. Météo-France is also in charge of recording and predicting the climate.
Météo-France has a particularly strong international presence, and is the French representative at the World Meteorological Organization. The organisation is a leading member of EUMETSAT, responsible for the procurement of Meteosat weather satellites. It is a critical national weather service member of the ECMWF and hosts one of two major centres of the IFS numerical weather prediction model widely used worldwide.
France
CERFACS is a private center of research, development, transfer and training regarding simulation, modeling and high-performance computing based in Toulouse, France. CERFACS tackles major scientific and technical challenges in both academic and industrial research. The Cerfacs teams bring together physicists, applied mathematicians, numerical analysts and computer scientists, who design and develop innovative methods and software solutions to meet the needs of the space, climate, energy and environmental sectors. CERFACS works closely with its seven public and private shareholders: Airbus, Cnes, EDF, Météo-France, Onera, Safran, and TotalEnergies.
Role in the project
Combining large-eddy simulations and emulation strategies to provide high-resolution wind and temperature maps along with their uncertainties
Key People
Dr Mélanie Rochoux - Senior Research Scientist - Principal investigor - UQ/learning/micrometeorologyDr Thomas Jaravel - Senrior Research Scientist - LES/learning/micrometeorology
STFC Scientific Computing is an international centre of excellence for advanced computing expertise and digital research infrastructure.
Our depth of expertise and knowledge across the full range of advanced computing technologies, combined with our global network of partners and internationally-renowned facilities, enable us to provide the vital skills and tools required for modern research and innovation. From high-performance computing infrastructure and data storage systems to computational science and data analytics, software development and AI for science, we influence and advance research across all scientific disciplines.
We are part of the UK’s National Laboratories, which provide large-scale, cutting-edge research and infrastructure facilities. For more than 50 years, we have provided a foundation for research partnerships, building pioneering research communities and collaborating on a global scale with researchers and forward-thinking businesses.
Role in the projectDefining the input parameters for the protype Digital Twin, identify/generate datasets required for the initial version and identify interfaces and the relevant (ideally open) standards for connections between DestinE, UrbanAIR to develop the prototype architecture of the Digital Twin to be integrated with Destination Earth's platform infrastructure.
Key PeopleDr Jens Jensen - Technical Project Lead and Scientist
Dr Stefano Rolfo - Scientist, Physics Digital Twin
Dr Charles Moulinec - Scientist
Marion Samler - Stakeholder and User engagement
Lyndsey Harding - Project Manager
United Kingdom
Bern University of Applied Sciences is a trilingual Swiss university with 600 professors, 8000 students, and 27 master degree programs. The university has strong research collaborations with industry and the public sector. The Energy, Weather and AI research group in the School of Engineering and Computer Science focuses on AI, energy, weather, climate applications. We collaborate closely with companies and in national and international research collaborations.
Role in the project:
Emulation, super-resolution, nowcasting, uncertainty assessment
People involved:
Asst Prof Angela Meyer – Project leader
Switzerland
4 years
Urban Planning & Policy
Developing frameworks
for sustainable cities
Project Duration:
01/01/2025 - 31/12/2028
18 Partners
Environmental Monitoring
Developing frameworks for sustainable cities
Collaborating across the value chain for urban sustainability