City of Schwabach increases climate resilience with digital twin

21.11.2024

To help Schwabach efficiently and sustainably adapt to the challenges of climate change, the city has developed a digital twin. The “Golden Urban Twin Information Schwabach” (GUZI) project enables better planning of urban infrastructure as well as the modeling and simulation of extreme and dangerous situations in disaster management. The Bavarian State Ministry for Digital Affairs funded the project as part of the “TwinBy – Digital Twins for Bavaria” program, while aconium GmbH supported the project throughout its entire duration. As part of its urban climate concept, the digital twin in Schwabach is intended to promote climate-friendly urban development. Based on its own planning and sensor data, a digital model of the Middle Franconian municipality was created that integrates both static data such as year of construction, house connections, terrain information, etc. and real-time data from sensors or cameras. This model not only depicts the current situation in the city, but also enables the virtual testing of structural measures and their consequences. Potential flood areas can be visualized and evacuation plans can be adapted accordingly. Helping the city to react more quickly and efficiently in the event of heavy rainfall. The model also identifies urban heat islands so that targeted countermeasures such as greening can be better planned and implemented.

Bitte akzeptieren Sie die erforderlichen Cookies, um alle Inhalte zu sehen.
A solar register was also created as part of the project, which shows citizens and planners whether it is worth installing a photovoltaic system. Using data from the digital terrain and building model from the Bavarian Surveying Office, the building envelope is displayed and supplemented with additional information such as applicable development plans, solar radiation and shading analyses. The degree of suitability for the installation of a photovoltaic system per roof area is then displayed in color in the digital model, making it easier to plan such projects. The digital twin enables various analysis options and representations for the respective user groups. Internal administrative users, including civil protection, receive centralized access to all relevant information, creating a uniform basis for planning and decision-making. Citizens benefit from a more transparent insight into urban planning processes. They can also use the information to find out about safe places during heatwaves or heavy rainfall events, for example.

The digital twin as an efficient tool for climate adaptation measures

By bringing together different data sets and networking internal specialist departments, the Schwabach digital twin provides a better basis for decision-making when designing areas in order to implement plans or projects more quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively. In this way, early and continuous adaptation of the city’s infrastructure to changing climate conditions in the context of climate change can be ensured. Thanks to the project, Schwabach is one of the Emerging Cities in the Smart City Study 2024 by Haselhorst Associates Consulting. The city’s digital twin was also nominated for the nationwide “Blue Compass” award, the highest state award in Germany for climate adaptation measures. The aim of the competition is to present innovative, effective and sustainable solutions for dealing with the consequences of climate change. The award winners and nominees were honored at an award ceremony at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) in Berlin on September 19, 2024. In addition to Schwabach, aconium GmbH was able to support the municipalities of Neunburg vorm Wald, Deggendorf and Plattling, NordAllianz, Aschaffenburg and Pressath in the TwinBy project with the implementation of a master portal to integrate municipal data from different, decentrally stored or generated sources. We will continue to follow with interest how the municipalities develop and how they optimize their digital twins.