DIGURB-SUST

Urban sustainability seeks to improve the social, economic, and environmental conditions of a city to ensure the quality of life for current and future residents. Conversely to the static nature of urban development, the consideration of time in urban planning is essential to anticipate and validate future urban changes. Smart cities emerged as a panacea in the last decades, but they are a mere receptor for a massive amount of data from a large network of devices and sensors (Internet of Things) dispersed in the city. City information modelling has been developed to use big data to represent an interactive 3D model of urban areas since then. For instance, urban digital twins (UDTs) simulate changing urban scenarios to make more efficient urban ecosystems. However, the interaction with these models is yet a pending challenge to be faced. Aiming to bridge this gap, new digital technologies based on virtual reality offer pioneering instruments to provide individuals with an immersive experience promoting the enhancement of a wide range of environmental, social, economic, and institutional aspects. DIGURB-SUST thus pursues the application of digital technologies in sustainable urban development by particularly addressing social and institutional (governance) dimensions. Furthermore, DIG_URB_SUST intends to attract the attention and collaboration of experts in smart cities, urban digital twins, metaverse, data science, machine learning, artificial Intelligence, blockchain, virtual/mixed/augmented reality, Internet of Things, among others, to achieve urban sustainability.

Jose Manuel Diaz Sarachaga

José Montoya Belmonte

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