Urban Digital Twins for a Sustainable Transformation of Cities 

International Research Conference in Hamburg, Germany

Conference Dates: 02 to 03 April 2025  

Proposal Submission Deadline: 17 November 2024  

In response to growing urban challenges—such as segregation, demographic changes, refugee migration, and climate-related extreme weather events—there is an increasing urgency to transform cities towards sustainability and resilience. Although the need for new approaches has been widely discussed for decades, changes in areas like urban mobility, circular economies, and adaptive governance have not yet been implemented at the required scale.

Urban digital twins, a relatively new tool, offer a promising approach to managing urban complexity. By leveraging spatial data, sensor networks, and digital tools, these digital replicas allow for modeling and simulation of urban processes. However, questions remain about whether they can support true transformation towards sustainability or merely provide incremental improvements.

This conference seeks to explore how urban digital twins can foster such transformative processes. Contributions are invited from both researchers and practitioners to address questions such as:

• How can urban digital twins initiate and accelerate urban transformation?
• What are the technical, institutional, and political challenges in their implementation?
• How can they contribute to building capacity for sustainability among urban actors?
• How can successful technologies and governance models be scaled and transferred to other cities?

Extended abstracts (1000-2000 words) are expected from participants, with the opportunity to present at the conference. Contributions should reflect on urban transformation in social, technical, or ecological dimensions and align with one or more of the following tracks:

Track A: Smart City Governance  
Track B: Modeling, Simulation, and AI  
Track C: Citizen Engagement  
Track D: Transformative Research Methods for Actionable Knowledge  

Practitioners are also encouraged to submit digital twin artifacts alongside a presentation discussing their potential for transformation.

Submit proposals by 17 November 2024

Read more here.