How will AI shape our future cities?

From Zurich to Boston and Shanghai, more and more places are using “digital twins” to create a virtual version of the city to plan the urban experiences of tomorrow. But a lack of data means there’s still a gap between our visions and reality, which Swiss researchers are working on closing. For city planners, a bird's-eye view of a map showing buildings and streets is no longer enough. They need to simulate changes to bus routes or traffic light timings before implementation to know how they might affect the population. Now, they can do so with digital twins – often referred to as a "mirror world" – which allows them to simulate scenarios more safely and cost-effectively through a three-dimensional virtual replica. Cities such as New York, Shanghai and Helsinki are already using digital twins. In 2022, the city of Zurich launched its own version. Anyone can use it to measure the height of buildings, determine the shadows they cast and take a look into the future to see how ...