Cities face mounting pressure to reduce emissions and transition to more sustainable energy and transport systems. Urban mobility remains a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, but the broader energy landscape—including infrastructure, consumption patterns, and renewable deployment—is equally critical. Rapid urbanisation, inefficient transport networks, and legacy energy systems make it difficult for cities to meet climate targets and manage their environmental footprint. 

Cities are increasingly exposed to the impacts of climate change, with public spaces—such as parks, plazas, schools or transport hubs—bearing the brunt of extreme events as well as long-term trends in temperature, precipitation or sea-level rise. Flooding, heatwaves, and storm damage not only disrupt daily life but also pose serious threats to public safety, infrastructure, and the livability of urban environments. These risks are often unevenly distributed, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations or low-income neighbourhoods. 

Urban green spaces play a vital role in enhancing public well-being, mitigating heat, improving air quality, and supporting biodiversity. However, maintaining these spaces effectively is increasingly challenging due to urban expansion, climate stress, and limited on-the-ground resources. 

Urban infrastructure—buildings, cultural heritage, bridges, roads, railways, and pipelines—faces mounting challenges from ageing, heavy usage, water leaks, and environmental phenomena such as subsidence or landslides. Traditional monitoring and inspection methods are often limited in scale and frequency, making it difficult to detect early signs of structural stress or ground instability. Satellite-based monitoring offers a transformative solution, providing continuous, high-resolution insights across wide areas both during and after the construction phase.

V mene Ministerstva investícií, regionálneho rozvoja a informatizácie Slovenskej republiky ako národného koordinátora smart agendy si Vás dovoľujeme pozvať na sériu online školení organizovaných v rámci iniciatívy Smart Communities Network, podporovanej Európskou komisiou, s cieľom zvýšiť digitálnu a zelenú pripravenosť samospráv. 

The EU’s Destination Earth initiative, which aims to build digital twins for climate and extreme weather data, is organising a user exchange meeting from Wednesday 25 to Thursday 26 June 2025 in Vienna, Austria. This event brings together experienced academic data users, developers and policymakers, service providers and the DestinE team to ensure that the platform’s applications and services meet diverse needs.

Through the Digital Europe Programme (DEP), the European Commission has launched a support programme to accelerate digital maturity, with a particular focus on communities that are less digitally ready for digital transformation. These services aim to foster the adoption of digital technologies, local digital twins and other digital solutions across rural and urban areas, ensuring that technology is accessible to all.

Hybrid Session 17th June, 2025 Location: Tampere, Finland

#Data Spaces #LORDIMAS #LocalDigitalTwins

The European Commission has recently launched a new initiative to “Increase Digitalisation Awareness & Readiness of EU Communities”. The aim of this initiative is to support EU communities at the early stages or that have not yet begun their digital transformation journey by providing resources, best practices, and training to develop digital strategies.