Periodic Reporting for period 2 - URBANAGE (Enhanced URBAN planning for AGE-friendly cities through disruptive technologies)
Reporting period: 2022-05-01 to 2024-01-31
Disruptive technologies bear great potential to transform public service delivery. While their benefits are evident in some sectors, they remain underexplored in others, leading to mistrust. Urban Planning, considering that 75% of the population lives in urban areas, could greatly benefit from using disruptive technologies.
It involves engaging multiple stakeholders in complex governance settings. Decisions in this context should be evidence-based, drawing on dynamic, multi-source data, and their outcomes should be continuously evaluated to mitigate unintended impacts. Despite the clear benefits, their adoption to support evidence-based decision-making in urban planning is not yet the prevalent paradigm. Integrating advanced multidimensional analysis, Urban Digital Twins, Big Data analytics and AI algorithms could be a game-changer in addressing the complexity of urban systems.
However, introducing such advanced digital decision support systems bears the risk of generating distrust among urban planners in the public sector, whose current practice is often still traditional and analogic. Employees are usually reluctant to change their work practices, so their engagement in tool development is crucial to ensure acceptance. There is also a risk of excluding some parts of the population when using disruptive technologies. For example, older adults are less digitally literate. Engaging them in decision-making is crucial to ensure solutions meet their needs.
In this context, URBANAGE promoted the creation of age-friendly cities by introducing a long-term sustainable framework for data-driven decision-making in urban planning. A decision-support Ecosystem was developed by involving relevant stakeholders, namely civil servants and older adults. The Ecosystem integrates community needs with city data, employing cutting-edge technologies such as Urban Digital Twins, Big Data analytics, AI-based modelling and simulation. An assessment was conducted to understand the benefits, risks, societal impact and acceptance of these technologies by older citizens and public servants. The URBANAGE Ecosystem was implemented and validated in three pilot sites: Santander, Helsinki, and the Region of Flanders.
It involves engaging multiple stakeholders in complex governance settings. Decisions in this context should be evidence-based, drawing on dynamic, multi-source data, and their outcomes should be continuously evaluated to mitigate unintended impacts. Despite the clear benefits, their adoption to support evidence-based decision-making in urban planning is not yet the prevalent paradigm. Integrating advanced multidimensional analysis, Urban Digital Twins, Big Data analytics and AI algorithms could be a game-changer in addressing the complexity of urban systems.
However, introducing such advanced digital decision support systems bears the risk of generating distrust among urban planners in the public sector, whose current practice is often still traditional and analogic. Employees are usually reluctant to change their work practices, so their engagement in tool development is crucial to ensure acceptance. There is also a risk of excluding some parts of the population when using disruptive technologies. For example, older adults are less digitally literate. Engaging them in decision-making is crucial to ensure solutions meet their needs.
In this context, URBANAGE promoted the creation of age-friendly cities by introducing a long-term sustainable framework for data-driven decision-making in urban planning. A decision-support Ecosystem was developed by involving relevant stakeholders, namely civil servants and older adults. The Ecosystem integrates community needs with city data, employing cutting-edge technologies such as Urban Digital Twins, Big Data analytics, AI-based modelling and simulation. An assessment was conducted to understand the benefits, risks, societal impact and acceptance of these technologies by older citizens and public servants. The URBANAGE Ecosystem was implemented and validated in three pilot sites: Santander, Helsinki, and the Region of Flanders.
WP1 Project Management
It was responsible for overall and technical coordination, continuous monitoring and reporting of the project's progress.
WP2 Impact & Acceptance
Guidelines on how to engage older adults in data-driven policymaking practices were developed. Three co-creation workshops were organized in each of the 3 pilot sites to gather needs, challenges, and user requirements from the perspective of older adults and civil servants. This WP offered legal and ethical guidance, assessing compliance of project activities with the legal and ethics framework. Various testing and validation activities were conducted at the pilot site level, using a participatory analytical framework focusing on six dimensions to assess the impact and the acceptance of the developed solutions from the end-user perspective. A comparative analysis of the impact assessment results between pilot cities was also conducted, leading to concrete recommendations to facilitate the acceptance and adoption of disruptive technologies. Pathways to replicate URBANAGE solutions were also discussed with other EU stakeholders.
WP3 Data & Intelligence
The 1st and 2nd versions of the URBANAGE components related to the Data Management Layer, AI algorithms and simulation, and Big Data analytics were designed, developed and integrated into the Data & Intelligence framework.
WP4 URBANAGE Digital Twin
The URBANAGE City Information Model (CIM), based on the CityGML data model, was designed and deployed. The 1st and 2nd versions of the URBANAGE components related to data modelling and mapping, geospatial analysis, solution accelerator API and presentation and visualization services were designed, developed and integrated into the URBANAGE Digital Twin.
WP5 Ecosystem & Integration
The DevOps processes and tools for software development, integration, and validation were defined. The components developed in WP3 and WP4 were integrated into the URBANAGE Ecosystem platform through a series of iterative design/mock-up/implementation/evaluation cycles. The system architecture was periodically updated based on feedback, releasing its final version at M35.
WP6 Use cases
Use case design in Santander, Helsinki and Flanders region was refined through co-creation with older people and civil servants. Each pilot site implemented its use cases according to a locally tailored plan. The technical validation of the URBANAGE Ecosystem included internal validation by the technical team and external validation through a series of workshops in the three pilot sites involving elderly people and civil servants. Cross-pilot replication activities were also conducted to enhance URBANAGE use cases and extract valuable lessons for replication by other cities outside the project.
WP7 Sustainability & Awareness
An integrated communication and dissemination strategy was implemented, including the project website, 4 Social Media accounts (Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, SlideShare) and communication material. During the project, the consortium participated in 69 events, organised 17 own events and the URBANAGE final conference in November 2023 at SCEWC23. URBANAGE participated in 6 clustering activities, at the 2022 Living Knowledge Conference with 1 poster, was chosen for prestigious congress speaking slots at SCEWC23 and published 3 newsletters, 4 conference papers, 9 journal articles, 1 STEM article and 2 Policy briefs. 1 Springer Book on Local Digital Twins in under preparation.
Relevant standards were analysed to align the project's technical work with relevant standardisation initiatives.
In terms of exploitation, URBANAGE’s position in the ICT market was analysed. Detailed information was provided on the project’s value proposition, business model, scenarios, pricing models, exploitable results and partner exploitation plans. Moreover, valuable insights and actionable pathways were provided for cities interested in embracing and harnessing the potential of new technologies.
It was responsible for overall and technical coordination, continuous monitoring and reporting of the project's progress.
WP2 Impact & Acceptance
Guidelines on how to engage older adults in data-driven policymaking practices were developed. Three co-creation workshops were organized in each of the 3 pilot sites to gather needs, challenges, and user requirements from the perspective of older adults and civil servants. This WP offered legal and ethical guidance, assessing compliance of project activities with the legal and ethics framework. Various testing and validation activities were conducted at the pilot site level, using a participatory analytical framework focusing on six dimensions to assess the impact and the acceptance of the developed solutions from the end-user perspective. A comparative analysis of the impact assessment results between pilot cities was also conducted, leading to concrete recommendations to facilitate the acceptance and adoption of disruptive technologies. Pathways to replicate URBANAGE solutions were also discussed with other EU stakeholders.
WP3 Data & Intelligence
The 1st and 2nd versions of the URBANAGE components related to the Data Management Layer, AI algorithms and simulation, and Big Data analytics were designed, developed and integrated into the Data & Intelligence framework.
WP4 URBANAGE Digital Twin
The URBANAGE City Information Model (CIM), based on the CityGML data model, was designed and deployed. The 1st and 2nd versions of the URBANAGE components related to data modelling and mapping, geospatial analysis, solution accelerator API and presentation and visualization services were designed, developed and integrated into the URBANAGE Digital Twin.
WP5 Ecosystem & Integration
The DevOps processes and tools for software development, integration, and validation were defined. The components developed in WP3 and WP4 were integrated into the URBANAGE Ecosystem platform through a series of iterative design/mock-up/implementation/evaluation cycles. The system architecture was periodically updated based on feedback, releasing its final version at M35.
WP6 Use cases
Use case design in Santander, Helsinki and Flanders region was refined through co-creation with older people and civil servants. Each pilot site implemented its use cases according to a locally tailored plan. The technical validation of the URBANAGE Ecosystem included internal validation by the technical team and external validation through a series of workshops in the three pilot sites involving elderly people and civil servants. Cross-pilot replication activities were also conducted to enhance URBANAGE use cases and extract valuable lessons for replication by other cities outside the project.
WP7 Sustainability & Awareness
An integrated communication and dissemination strategy was implemented, including the project website, 4 Social Media accounts (Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, SlideShare) and communication material. During the project, the consortium participated in 69 events, organised 17 own events and the URBANAGE final conference in November 2023 at SCEWC23. URBANAGE participated in 6 clustering activities, at the 2022 Living Knowledge Conference with 1 poster, was chosen for prestigious congress speaking slots at SCEWC23 and published 3 newsletters, 4 conference papers, 9 journal articles, 1 STEM article and 2 Policy briefs. 1 Springer Book on Local Digital Twins in under preparation.
Relevant standards were analysed to align the project's technical work with relevant standardisation initiatives.
In terms of exploitation, URBANAGE’s position in the ICT market was analysed. Detailed information was provided on the project’s value proposition, business model, scenarios, pricing models, exploitable results and partner exploitation plans. Moreover, valuable insights and actionable pathways were provided for cities interested in embracing and harnessing the potential of new technologies.
URBANAGE demonstrated how cities can harness disruptive technologies for collaborative, evidence-based decision-making, leading to improved governance in urban planning.
Social impacts:
For older adults, the project outcomes enhance their quality of life, improving the accessibility to public spaces and services. This helps them stay active and healthy, preserving their social networks and participation in urban life.
For civil servants social impacts are primarily work-oriented, fostering their management skills for informed and effective decision-making.
Economic Impacts:
URBANAGE empowers municipalities with tools for data-driven urban planning and evidence-based policy decisions. By harnessing different data, algorithms and simulations municipalities can improve their urban planning decision-making, promoting a more efficient allocation of public funds.
It enables technology providers, including municipal subcontractors, to boost innovation by leveraging the technology offered by URBANAGE's open-source components, focusing on delivering high-value services to cities.
URBANAGE supports city managers in creating more inclusive and age-friendly environments and fosters older adults in actively participating in urban planning decision-making.
Social impacts:
For older adults, the project outcomes enhance their quality of life, improving the accessibility to public spaces and services. This helps them stay active and healthy, preserving their social networks and participation in urban life.
For civil servants social impacts are primarily work-oriented, fostering their management skills for informed and effective decision-making.
Economic Impacts:
URBANAGE empowers municipalities with tools for data-driven urban planning and evidence-based policy decisions. By harnessing different data, algorithms and simulations municipalities can improve their urban planning decision-making, promoting a more efficient allocation of public funds.
It enables technology providers, including municipal subcontractors, to boost innovation by leveraging the technology offered by URBANAGE's open-source components, focusing on delivering high-value services to cities.
URBANAGE supports city managers in creating more inclusive and age-friendly environments and fosters older adults in actively participating in urban planning decision-making.