TWINVERSE

Acronym: TWINVERSE
Title: The Federated Universe of AI-Enhanced Digital Twins to Achieve Climate Neutrality of Urban Environments

What overarching urban challenge does TWINVERSE aim to respond to, and why is it important for European cities right now?
TWINVERSE responds to a central challenge facing European cities: how to make urban planning and management fit for the climate transition. Cities are expected to move rapidly towards climate neutrality, while at the same time dealing with heatwaves, flooding, air pollution, energy poverty and other pressures that often affect vulnerable communities the most. Yet many urban decisions are still taken through fragmented processes, with data spread across departments, systems and policy domains. TWINVERSE addresses this gap by helping cities connect data, AI and Digital Twins in ways that support more integrated, evidence-based and participatory decision-making.

This is especially important now because the EU Mission for Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities asks cities to accelerate their transition by 2030. To do that, cities need tools that can help them understand complex interactions between mobility, energy, land use, buildings, socio-demographics and green infrastructure, and translate this understanding into practical action through instruments such as Climate City Contracts, SECAPs and SUMPs.

What kinds of new capabilities or ways of working do you hope TWINVERSE will enable for cities?
TWINVERSE aims to enable cities to move from fragmented, siloed planning towards more connected and anticipatory ways of working. By combining Local Digital Twins, interoperable data spaces and explainable AI-powered services, cities will be able to test scenarios, simulate impacts and compare possible interventions before implementing them in the real world. This can support better decisions on issues such as mobility, energy use, urban heat, air quality, public services and climate adaptation.

The project also aims to strengthen collaboration across departments and between cities. Because TWINVERSE is built around federated and interoperable Digital Twins, solutions developed or tested in one city should become easier to adapt, reuse and scale in others. Just as importantly, the project includes participatory tools that can help bring citizens and stakeholders into planning processes, making urban transformation more transparent, inclusive and responsive to local needs. 

Which strengths does VUB bring to the consortium, and how do they help advance the project’s goals?
VUB contributes to TWINVERSE through FARI - AI for the Common Good Institute, an initiative by ULB and VUB with a mission to put the common good at the heart of AI, data and robotics research. FARI brings strong interdisciplinary expertise in responsible AI, data governance, law, ethics and public-sector digital transformation.

A key strength of VUB-FARI is the involvement of the Law, Science, Technology and Society (LSTS) research group, which is part of FARI’s interdisciplinary ecosystem. LSTS focuses on the relationships between law, science, technology, ethics and society, making it particularly relevant for a project such as TWINVERSE, where AI-enhanced Digital Twins must be developed and used in ways that are legally sound, socially responsible and aligned with fundamental rights.  
Within TWINVERSE, FARI leads T1/2.2 Data and SELP management, covering the project’s Data Management Plan and the monitoring of Security, Ethical, Legal and Privacy requirements across the consortium. In this role, FARI supports partners on ethical and legal aspects, including alignment with the AI Act, GDPR and evolving EU policies.

VUB-FARI will also contribute to the project’s broader experimentation and engagement activities. This includes supporting the potential use of a CAVE, or Computer Augmented Virtual Environment, for solution replication and immersive visualisation in Brussels, as foreseen in the proposal in relation to enhancing the Local Digital Twin of the City of Brussels. VUB-FARI will also contribute to citizen engagement activities and citizen workshops, helping gather feedback at relevant stages of the AI solution lifecycle, from design and development to testing and use, so that the tools remain responsive to societal needs and public-sector realities.
This contribution helps ensure that TWINVERSE does not only deliver technically advanced AI and Digital Twin solutions, but that these solutions are also trustworthy, accountable, privacy-aware, understandable and usable in real public-sector decision-making. In this way, VUB-FARI helps bridge the gap between technological innovation and the democratic, legal and societal conditions needed for cities to adopt AI responsibly.

How do you see TWINVERSE supporting cities in becoming more resilient, inclusive, and climate neutral over time?
TWINVERSE can support cities by giving them better ways to understand the consequences of their choices and to act earlier, rather than only reacting once problems appear. AI-enhanced Digital Twins can help cities model risks, test climate-neutrality pathways and identify where interventions may have the greatest impact. This is particularly relevant for areas such as urban heat, pollution, mobility emissions, energy efficiency, cooling poverty and access to essential services.

Over time, the value of TWINVERSE lies in connecting technical intelligence with inclusive governance. By combining data, simulations, explainable AI and citizen participation, the project can help cities make climate action more targeted, more transparent and more socially fair. If successfully embedded into planning processes such as Climate City Contracts, SECAPs and SUMPs, TWINVERSE can become a practical support system for cities that want to move towards climate neutrality while also strengthening resilience and inclusion.

https://www.twinverse-project.eu/