UrbanAIR Consortium meets in London to accelerate Digital Twins for Resilient Cities

LONDON, UK – The UrbanAIR consortium recently reached a pivotal milestone, convening in London for its General Assembly. Hosted by Imperial College London (ICL), at Scale Space, the meeting brought together eighteen international partners to refine the next generation of urban digital twins, a mission critical for addressing air quality and heat resilience in European cities.

Group photo of the UrbanAIR consortium at Scale Space, White City

Under the coordination of Scientific Lead Femke Vossepoel (TU Delft), the assembly focused on a core objective: ensuring the consortium is aligned, inspired, and ready for the implementation phase. Across two days, the consortium worked through a series of interactive marketplace sessions, breakout discussions, and thematic updates.

Designing for Impact: The Three User Journeys

The heart of the meeting involved intensive breakouts to "stress-test" the project’s three primary User Journeys, discussing the progress on identifying stakeholder groups and data requirements. These journeys serve as the blueprint for how city officials will interact with the UrbanAIR Digital Twin:

• Green Potential Map Journey: Led by VITO partners, focusing on how green infrastructure can maximize cooling and air filtration.

• Air Quality Digital Twin Journey: Led by Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), defining data requirements for high-resolution pollution forecasts.

• Extreme Heat Digital Twin Journey: Facilitated by ICL and KNMI partners identifying tools to protect vulnerable populations during extreme heat.

  
  
  

  

  

Beyond technical modeling, the group focused on Communication and Dissemination. In this this session Future Needs discussed dissemination opportunities and already initiated collaborations with EU projects working in with DestinE and Digital Twins and proposed a more systematic approach for the gender and intersectionality aspects of the project.

Technical Innovation and Human Behavior

The second day shifted toward technical reality. The team reviewed modelling tools, and discussed the integration of uncertainty quantification, interface design, and social-science insights.  UKRI-STFC provided a live demonstration of the digital twin interfaces, while TUDelft and Femke Vossepoel led discussions on Uncertainty Quantification, ensuring city planners can trust the reliability of model predictions.

Highlights included:

• The Paris Case Study: An update from ICL on applying the digital twin to one of the project's key "Learning Cities."

• Human-Centric Modeling: TU Delft presented groundbreaking research on agent-based behavioral models, predicting how citizens might change their mobility in response to environmental alerts.

• Advisory Board Perspectives: The Advisory Board provided reflections on the project’s direction, commending the transition from conceptual modeling to operational prototypes, and supporting deeper collaboration with cities.

  
  

  

  Bridging science and society: Aulia Sukma explains how behavioral simulations help predict citizen responses to environmental hazards.

Scientific Excellence: The Harwell Excursion

The meeting concluded with a high-level scientific visit to the STFC Harwell Campus. This excursion, organized and led by the STFC team under the guidance of Marion Sampler, provided partners with an immersive look at the world-class infrastructure supporting the project.

The consortium explored facilities at RAL Space, the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA), and the Central Laser Facility (CLF). From satellite integration to advanced atmospheric chemistry and the DAFNI digital framework, the visit underscored strong scientific and technological foundation supporting UrbanAIR.

Looking Forward

The consortium extends its sincere thanks to Professor Maarten van Reeuwijk (ICL) and Marion Samler (STFC) for their exceptional hosting in Scale Space and the STFC Harwell Campus, and to the Scientific and Administrative Coordinators, Femke Vossepoel and Anna Gralka, for their guidance throughout the assembly and the organisation of the meeting.

With renewed cohesion and momentum, the partners left London ready to deliver impactful tools for European cities, looking forward to reconvening for next year’s meeting to share the progress of functional prototypes UrbanAIR prototypes.

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