Connected Urban Twins (CUT) is one of Europe’s most advanced and comprehensive implementations of Urban Digital Twins. Developed over five years by the cities of Hamburg, Leipzig, and Munich, the project demonstrates how digital twins can move beyond pilots and become an operational tool for urban planning, decision-making, and citizen engagement.
The challenge: complexity, fragmentation, and pressure on cities
Cities today operate in an increasingly complex environment. Urban planning decisions must integrate multiple domains — from mobility and housing to climate adaptation and energy systems — while responding to growing expectations for transparency and citizen participation.
At the same time, public administrations face structural challenges: fragmented data across departments, limited resources, and the need to make faster, more reliable decisions.
CUT was designed to address this reality by creating a shared digital foundation for cities — one that connects data, tools, and stakeholders into a single operational environment.
The approach: Urban Digital Twins as a decision-making layer
At its core, CUT developed Urban Digital Twins that combine data integration, simulation capabilities, and visualization tools to support real-world urban processes.
These digital twins are not static 3D models. They are dynamic systems that bring together multiple data sources, from geospatial data to real-time sensor inputs, and enable cities to simulate scenarios, test interventions, and evaluate their impact before implementation.
As described in the report, this represents a fundamental shift: from fragmented, document-based planning to a shared, data-driven environment where different departments can work on the same model and base decisions on evidence .
From concept to practice: tangible use cases
A key strength of CUT lies in its focus on concrete, operational use cases.
- In Hamburg, the 3D Project Planner allows urban planners to quickly create and test development scenarios, improving coordination across departments and reducing the time needed to evaluate proposals.
- In Munich, a neighborhood development tool integrates data on energy, mobility, and urban form, enabling planners to design climate-neutral districts based on a comprehensive understanding of local conditions.
- In Leipzig, digital twins are used to forecast demand for public services such as daycare, combining demographic data with planning scenarios to support more accurate and cost-effective decisions.
These examples show how digital twins can be embedded directly into administrative workflows, delivering measurable value rather than remaining isolated innovation projects.
Enhancing collaboration and participation
Beyond internal efficiency, CUT also demonstrates the role of Urban Digital Twins in improving collaboration and citizen engagement.
By visualizing complex planning scenarios in accessible formats, including 3D environments and virtual reality, cities can make urban development processes more understandable and inclusive. Citizens are able to explore proposals, provide feedback, and actively contribute to shaping their environment.
This not only improves the quality of decisions but also strengthens trust and transparency in public administration.
Standards, interoperability, and reuse
One of the most relevant outcomes of CUT is its contribution to standardisation and replicability. The project supported the development of DIN SPEC 91607, a national standard for Urban Digital Twins, and produced a range of open-source components and reusable tools. These elements are designed to be adopted by other cities, reducing duplication of effort and accelerating implementation.
This focus on interoperability and reuse is critical. The value of digital twins does not lie only in local deployment, but in their ability to scale across cities and regions.
Why CUT matters for Europe, and for EDIC
CUT provides a clear blueprint for the next phase of digital transformation in cities. It shows that Urban Digital Twins can:
- Improve the quality and speed of decision-making
- Reduce planning errors and costs
- Enable cross-department collaboration
- Support citizen participation at scale
Most importantly, it demonstrates how to move from isolated pilots to systemic deployment.
This is precisely the ambition of the LDT CitiVERSE EDIC: to scale these capabilities across Europe by providing shared infrastructure, common standards, and reusable solutions that allow cities to adopt digital twins more efficiently and consistently.
Acces the full report here.
Please find out more in the Publications Database and in the Connected Urban Twins Project Report.
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