Another Barcelona is being created at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), a virtual city built from all the available data. The more the better. Census, mobility sensors, telephone or credit card data… And so on until generating a digital twin of Barcelona, ??an urban design tool that allows simulating future scenarios, anticipating impacts and, consequently, making decisions. What happens if Council of Cent is cut? Do you need to put more buses if it rains? What are the ideal trees for Plaça de les Glòries? How does a green axis impact house prices? And gentrification in a neighborhood?
“We are developing the technological platform that can be expanded depending on the data that is entered. We hope to have results in June next year”, explains Fernando Cucchietti, director of the BSC’s data processing group. In this virtual replica of the city, the mobility of citizens and transport are a crucial component. “The goal is for the platform we create here in Barcelona to be a model that can be exported to other cities,” adds Patricio Reyes, head of urban data science at the BSC.
Under this umbrella, and given Barcelona’s proven experience in holding large events, one of the use cases that is being developed is related to the management of mobility in mass events. “It could be applied to the Gràcia festivities or the America’s Cup,” adds Cucchietti, citing two examples. In this case, the researchers count on the collaboration of the Cruïlla and Sónar festivals and two other cities also participate in the project, neighboring Viladecans and the Japanese city of Kobe, “which is interested in this model to manage evacuations in the event of an earthquake” , explains the manager of the BSC.
Just as the smart city filled the streets with sensors to monitor and obtain as much data as possible, “digital twins provide added value and must answer five questions: what is there, what is happening, what will happen, what happened and what would happen if”, says Jordi Cirera, director of the City’s Innovation and Technology Services at the Municipal Institute of Informatics (IMI). All the big cities are moving in this direction, although with different stakes. For example, Rotterdam stands out in the development of 3D models to study shadows in the city and make the most of the sun; Munich in the adaptation of Chat GPT in the development of its digital twin.
“In the case of Barcelona, ??the axis is decarbonisation, which is closely linked to mobility, urban planning, the management of green areas…” explains Michael Donaldson, general director of the BIT Habitat Foundation.
Patrici Reis, from the BSC, highlights the two pillars of the “Barcelona model” that they are developing: “That it is traceable, with software for public use and designed to provide solutions, to solve people’s problems”. In the construction of this virtual city, the BSC provides technological leadership, the City Council is the potential data provider and, through the IMI, assumes coordination and possible collaboration with other cities.
“The City Council has been collecting data for decades, but it’s one thing to digitize and another to transform, and now we’re in a transformation scenario that involves another type of governance,” says Jordi Valls, Deputy Mayor for Economy , Treasury, Economic Promotion and Tourism.
In this new scenario, where artificial intelligence, “both analytical and generative, opens up so many possibilities”, Barcelona City Council focused on the cases of Seattle, London, Munich, Paris and New York to end up approaching the governance model of the latter city. “We chose not to paralyze the initiatives of the departments that were already using these tools and to grow them. And, at the same time, to enhance the transversal and transformative role of the IMI with a new strategic plan”, adds Jordi Valls.
The aim is for this body, which is now supported by 2.8% of the municipal budget, to reach 4% within four years. “Other cities, such as London, are already allocating 5% of their budget to technology”, points out the deputy mayor. More weight for the IMI and an effort to implement the new tools in the day-to-day of municipal management. “It is necessary to tend to homogenize processes, to use information and data so that processes are faster, more efficient and more effective”, maintains Agustín Abelaira, manager of the City Council’s Digital Resources and Transformation Area.
Two case studies in which the City Council is finalizing the implementation of artificial intelligence tools illustrate this transformation. In the area of ??social care, simultaneous translation, “a project that will be ready before the end of the year and which we intend to extend to other municipal areas”, explains Jordi Valls. The second bet is related to recruitment services. “There are processes and procedures that can be simplified and streamlined with new intelligent solutions”, points out Abelaira. The IMI transformation process involves ensuring the maximum accessibility of public services to digital channels, and, at the same time, strengthening cyber defense structures.
