Barcelona
Digital Twin
Creating a revolutionary tool
to test future urban scenarios
© Laura Guerrero, Ajuntament de Barcelona - CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
The challenge
In an increasingly urbanized world where 70% of the population is expected to live in cities by 2050, urban areas must find effective ways to tackle emerging challenges while ensuring optimized resource management and the well-being of their citizens.
City Digital Twins, virtual and dynamic representations of cities powered by real-time data, are gaining prominence as a key tool in this effort. They enable cities to simulate improvements to urban systems, predict the impacts of decisions, and test responses to future scenarios, opening new possibilities for urban innovation. As more cities worldwide adopt this pioneering approach, BIT Habitat, the urban innovation agency of the Barcelona City Council, is stepping forward to enhance its management as a global reference for Smart Cities, becoming a decarbonized, efficient and inclusive city.
Our approach
BIT Habitat engaged Anteverti to provide strategic guidance in conceptualizing a City Digital Twin for Barcelona. Our role included evaluating global City Digital Twin efforts by pioneering organizations, setting a vision for Barcelona’s Digital Twin based on the available context and data, and defining its governance model.
We analyzed Barcelona’s local context, identifying opportunities and barriers through research that involved interviewing key actors from the city’s management, technological ecosystem and other relevant stakeholders. From this analysis, we developed a strategic framework and a roadmap for the City Digital Twin, identifying over 20 specific applications to address the city’s strategic priorities in urban management. These priorities include climate resilience, public space interventions, affordable housing, the green and circular economy, decarbonization, efficient mobility for pedestrians, and tourism management.
We helped Barcelona in conceptualizing a Digital Twin to test future urban scenarios, enhancing decision-making on +20 of the city's primary challenges — such as climate resilience, public space interventions and tourism management.
The impact
Our collaboration with BIT Habitat proposed a roadmap for implementing the Barcelona Digital Twin, laying the foundation for an innovative and transformative city management tool. It will help to address the city’s interconnected challenges through unprecedented large-scale simulations, making decisions more informed, efficient and productive.
The City Digital Twin will be accessible to all city council departments and agencies, facilitating holistic collaboration and co-creation, and promoting new and enhanced interactions between the public and private sectors.
- Client: BIT Habitat
- Associates: Barcelona’s Municipal Institute of Information Technology, Municipal Data Office
- Execution period: 2024
- City: Barcelona
- Population: 1,6 million
- Cliente:
