UrbanTwin: seeing double for sustainability

A consortium of Swiss research institutes has begun working on UrbanTwin to make an AI driven, ecologically sensitive model of the energy, water and waste systems the town of Aigle to help boost sustainability. Twins are a fascinating phenomenon: observing how identical twins, even those separated at birth, can resemble each other in appearance, character, ability, and personal taste is astounding. It demonstrates the power of DNA, the smallest of building blocks, in creating surprisingly predictable results. Now, UrbanTwin, a collaboration of Swiss research institutions within the ETH Domain, led by EPFL through laboratories of four different schools (STI, ENAC, IC, and SB) and four centers¹, plans to make identical twins of another kind, using neural networks instead of DNA to create a double of a Swiss town. Aigle has been chosen due to its size and because it has an extensive range of water sources and includes very detailed energy monitoring infrastructure previously developed by the Energy Center of EPFL. Lausanne is also a potential partner One of ten nationally funded Joint Initiatives of the ETH Board addressing the strategic areas of energy, climate, and environmental sustainability, Urban Twin aims to develop and validate a holistic tool to support decision-makers in achieving environmental goals, such as the Energy Strategy 2050 and the vision of climate-adaptive "sponge cities". The tool will be based on a detailed model of critical urban infrastructure, such as energy, water, buildings, and mobility, accurately simulating the evolution of these interlinked infrastructures under various climate scenarios and assessing the effectiveness of climate-change-related actions.