CITYNEXUS: A novel urban DestinE Platform application
Designing an innovative urban application for the DestinE Platform to assess the potential impacts of urban development decisions.
In a nutshell
- Traffic congestions and poor air quality are common challenges for numerous urban areas. Innovative tools that empower the decision-makers in the field of urban planning can ease the detrimental consequences and improve citizens’ lives.
- CityNexus aims at addressing the specific needs of the Local Council of Amager Vest and the City of Copenhagen by developing an application that targets a set of KPIs in five thematic areas and generates “what-if” scenarios.
- The Use Case is expected to deliver a powerful tool for visualising and understanding the impact of urban development initiatives, thereby supporting data-driven decision-making.
Technical Overview
Challenge
In the heart of Copenhagen, urban planners and policymakers face the daunting task of transforming Ørestad, a vibrant mixed-use district, into a model of sustainable urban living. The primary challenge lies in comprehensively understanding and addressing traffic congestion, air quality, and overall living standards within this dynamic area. The complexity of urban ecosystems requires a nuanced approach that considers human mobility, service accessibility, environmental health, and the intricate interplay of these factors. The city has a strong interest in exploring innovative tools for interactive assessment of different spatial planning and urban development options and for evaluating trade-offs of climate adaptation policies and regulatory changes, hence supporting data-driven decision-making in urban planning.
DestinE Solution
CityNexus stands at the forefront of this transformative journey, offering an advanced application tailored for the City of Copenhagen and the Local Council of Amager Vest. By harnessing the power of the DestinE Platform, the platform targets critical Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) across five thematic areas, providing a detailed understanding of mobility patterns, air quality, population distribution, public health, and service accessibility. The heart of CityNexus is its ability to generate dynamic ‘what-if’ simulations, allowing policymakers to visualise the potential impacts of various scenarios, including road redesigns, low-emission vehicles, and changes in speed limits.
Leveraging the DestinE Platforms’s robust infrastructure, CityNexus integrates a diverse data portfolio, including Sentinel-5P TROPOMI, ECMWF’s ERA5, Copernicus DEM, and various publicly available and commercial datasets. This rich data integration, combined with explainable AI (XAI) and advanced visualisation tools, ensures that every insight is transparent, accessible, and actionable. By providing a collaborative platform where stakeholders can experiment with and assess the effects of different interventions, CityNexus not only facilitates evidence-based decision-making but also fosters a coordinated approach to achieving sustainable urban interventions.
Impact
The implementation of CityNexus and its “what-if” scenario capabilities is expected to have a profound and multi-faceted impact on users, particularly in terms of urban planning, environmental sustainability, transportation, and public health policies. In the short term, users, including urban planners, policymakers, and the public, will gain a powerful tool for visualizing and understanding the potential impacts of various urban development decisions. This interactive and participatory approach to planning will allow for more informed and community-driven decisions. By simulating different scenarios, CityNexus provides insights into how changes in infrastructure, such as transforming high-speed thoroughfares or promoting electric vehicles, can influence human mobility, air quality, and public health. This ability to evaluate the potential outcomes of various initiatives before implementation will be instrumental in guiding effective policy decisions and urban development strategies.
In the long-term, CityNexus is expected to significantly contribute to Copenhagen’s journey towards a more sustainable, healthy, and smart urban future, aligning with the city’s ambitious environmental and urban quality of life goals. By integrating with key policies like the Copenhagen Climate Plan and the Copenhagen Bicycle Strategy, the platform supports the city’s endeavours to become carbon-neutral by 2025 and evolve into a premier global city for cycling.
Moreover, the impact of CityNexus extends beyond regional boundaries. There is a concerted effort to connect with cities participating in the EU’s 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030 initiative, as well as the Covenant of Mayors. This multi-tiered strategy not only furthers Copenhagen’s local sustainability goals but also aims to inspire and motivate cities across the globe. By demonstrating the effectiveness of CityNexus in achieving substantial, long-lasting urban improvements, the project positions itself as a pioneering model for integrating advanced digital tools into urban planning and policy-making. This approach underscores the potential of collaborative, data-driven strategies in realizing the vision of sustainable, smart, and climate-neutral cities, encouraging a global movement towards more sustainable urban development.
Contributions
Providers
Interested in contributing?
Destination Earth is based on a co-design approach, which enables an agile design process and facilitates the identification of user requirements. Therefore, DestinE invites user communities to contribute to the continuous development and improvement of DestinE capabilities through GitHub.
GitHub is a cloud-based repository for software development and version control. It allows developers to collaborate on software projects, as well as to store and manage their code.