Cities today are bracing for a wave of change. Evolving climate challenges are shaping the future of urban areas, and cities need to increase their sustainability and resilience. Changemakers are now called to action: the future of virtual twins for sustainable cities is here.
Currently, cities contribute around 70% of global CO₂ emissions due to transportation and building inefficiencies. The imperative to reduce carbon footprints and revitalize aging infrastructure compels us to rethink how we live and work in urban spaces. And with 68% of the total global population expected to live in urban and suburban areas by 2050, our cities must quickly evolve to tackle rising floods and extreme heat, risks already identified by 83% of metropolitan areas.
The cities that thrive aren’t just adapting. They are anticipating, simulating and innovating. Virtual twin technology is a key player in this transformation, fostering collaboration among city planners, developers and other stakeholders. It allows them to model designs and ideas in a virtual environment before construction begins. Using real-time data and simulations, virtual twins can create smart, sustainable and resilient cities, emphasizing the importance of everyone’s involvement in the process.
Focusing on future-ready urban design will enable cities to address climate challenges and improve the quality of life for their residents. By prioritizing sustainable development, cities can significantly lower carbon emissions and resource use, paving the way for a brighter future.
What are Dassault Systèmes’ virtual twins?
A virtual twin is a real-time, interactive, continuously evolving digital replica of a physical object or system. A digital representation of an entire city allows for integrating live urban data such as energy usage, traffic flow, weather patterns, air quality and population density.
Using our 3DEXPERIENCE platform, cities can simulate a wide range of “what-if” scenarios. For instance, they can understand how policies or events might impact the physical environment. Want to know how new bike lanes affect car congestion? Or how tree cover reduces heat in specific neighborhoods? A virtual twin can show you before you break ground. It can also simulate the impact of a new high-rise building on the wind patterns in the area or the effect of a new public transportation system on the city’s carbon emissions.
Digital twins and virtual twins: What’s the difference?
While both technologies create virtual representations, digital twins primarily mirror existing physical objects through real-time data collection and monitoring. They excel at tracking current performance and maintenance needs of specific assets, like manufacturing equipment or product components.
Virtual twins extend beyond simple replication by enabling predictive modeling and simulations across various contexts. In cities, their virtual twins help optimize infrastructure and urban planning before implementation, while in healthcare, they assist in designing and testing medical devices. These virtual models provide a comprehensive view, improving decision-making and efficiency.
Cities leading the way: Virtual twins in action
Virtual twin technology is not a futuristic idea—it’s already being implemented in leading cities worldwide. From combating urban heat islands in Cairo to reconstructing sustainable infrastructure in Ukraine, here are eight transformative examples of virtual twins in action.
Virtual Singapore: A national-scale twin for a smarter city
Virtual Singapore is a groundbreaking national-scale 3D city model demonstrating how virtual twins can transform urban governance. Built on a unified data platform, it enables seamless collaboration between government agencies, developers and citizens, bridging sectors and disciplines to drive evidence-based decision-making. The model empowers users to simulate complex, real-world scenarios that impact daily life and long-term planning.
Through Virtual Singapore, stakeholders can explore solutions to urgent urban challenges, such as flood risk, infrastructure resilience, emergency preparedness and energy efficiency. For instance, authorities can simulate how a heavy rainstorm might affect vulnerable neighborhoods or stress-test infrastructure to identify potential failure points. These simulations provide the foresight to develop proactive climate adaptation strategies and ensure community safety.
The result is more than just a technological tool—it’s a dynamic framework for sustainable, unified urban development at the national level. By aligning simulation with policy planning, Virtual Singapore offers a powerful blueprint for smart cities worldwide. It enhances public safety, optimizes resource management and supports climate resilience, ultimately improving the quality of life for all citizens.
City virtual twin transforming urban planning and policy in Rennes
The development of Virtual Rennes through the city’s partnership with Dassault Systèmes has been a catalyst for transformative public policies and urban improvements. The virtual twin empowers city planners, local government, residents and businesses to collaboratively test and evaluate different urban scenarios before implementation by providing a shared, data-rich platform.
This transparency and foresight lead to better-informed policy decisions grounded in scientific simulation rather than guesswork, reducing risk and increasing public trust in urban development initiatives. For city planners, it can provide a powerful tool for designing and implementing sustainable urban policies. For residents, it can offer a platform for understanding and participating in the city’s development.
Simulating urban interventions—such as new transport routes, energy systems or zoning changes—enables policymakers to predict potential outcomes, address unintended consequences and prioritize projects that promote long-term sustainability and equity. Simulations can reveal how changes in traffic flow affect air quality or how a proposed building development might impact public green space. This data-driven approach ensures that infrastructure and city services investments align with community needs.
Ultimately, Virtual Rennes drives city improvements that are deeply attuned to the well-being of its citizens. By integrating mobility, energy and architectural planning into a single, coherent system, the city can more effectively manage resources, reduce its environmental footprint and create more livable neighborhoods. Residents benefit from cleaner air, more accessible public services and greater involvement in shaping the places where they live and work. In this way, the virtual twin acts as a planning tool and a vehicle for inclusive, participatory governance and sustainable urban life.
Virtual Hong Kong: Building a greener, more connected city
With support from the global engineering consultancy Arup, the Virtual Hong Kong project is bridging fragmented urban data systems to enhance city planning and climate resilience. Combining simulation and sensory intelligence, the initiative tackles key urban and environmental challenges in one of the world’s most densely populated cities. The Virtual Hong Kong project uses virtual twin technology to bring the city into the future by modeling pedestrianization strategies, improving access to public space, visualizing critical infrastructure and supporting environmental conservation.
This collaboration aligns with Hong Kong’s broader strategy to unify digital data representations and enhance the city’s functionality. Spatial data and technology support shared infrastructure development, aiming to boost operational efficiency, environmental performance and citizens’ quality of life.
The project unfolds in two phases. The first phase establishes a comprehensive global framework with specific targets and a roadmap for creating a more connected, responsive city. The second phase focuses on practical applications in four key domains: urban planning and land use, particularly through walkability and design; infrastructure visualization of utilities like water and electricity; environmental conservation; and workflow integration across sectors. By encouraging collaboration among government, industry and academia, the platform sets a precedent for how cities can harness data and technology for a sustainable future.
Combatting urban heat and building climate resilience in Cairo
In collaboration with SUEZ ARIA, we’re developing a virtual twin of Cairo, one of the world’s hottest and most rapidly expanding cities. This digital model simulates targeted strategies to mitigate urban heat islands, such as increasing vegetation, using reflective materials and improving building insulation. The project addresses the complex challenge of preparing a historic, ancient city for future climate conditions while preserving its cultural and architectural heritage.
In partnership with SUEZ ARIA, EGIS and ATOS SE, Cairo’s government is using our 3DEXPERIENCE platform to build a virtual twin of downtown Cairo. Designed as a dynamic observatory for local climate change, the model enables real-time monitoring and simulation of environmental conditions. The tool focuses on enhancing livability by providing urban planners with street-level data that can guide the creation of safe, comfortable public spaces, especially surrounding schools and hospitals.
The virtual twin supports evidence-based planning by identifying heat islands and recommending targeted interventions, such as the optimal placement of green spaces and the selection of climate-appropriate tree species. The broader goal is to improve public health outcomes, bolster Cairo’s climate resilience and promote sustainable urban comfort, particularly in vulnerable and underserved communities.
Building Tomorrow: Maximizing resources and resilience in Paris
How can cities minimize their carbon footprint? Sustainable construction promotes self-sufficiency, ensuring that the structure can withstand environmental impacts while reducing its impact on the city’s infrastructure.
The Building Tomorrow project was a visionary awareness campaign that assembled a team of leading experts in sustainability, construction and design to imagine disruptive, sustainable building. Together, they reimagined Paris’s most iconic landmark: the Eiffel Tower. The reimagined tower design, utilizing our virtual twin experience, featured vertical gardens, low-carbon materials and energy self-sufficiency.
The vertical gardens serve as research-based greenhouses for native plant species, improving air quality and biodiversity. The plant life reduces the tower’s carbon footprint and absorbs sound. Solar panels on the vertical gardens support the green energy mix of hydropower and nuclear energy from the Paris city power grid. Thanks to the water management system, the tower is water-positive, imposing no additional burden on Paris’s water infrastructure.
Using low-impact steel allows Paris to develop in a way that enhances its overall wellness. As urbanization places increasing pressure on power grids and water systems, among other challenges, self-sufficient design represents the future of urban development.
To successfully integrate all these objectives, the team dismantled data silos using the city’s virtual twin, enabling all stakeholders to communicate and collaborate in one place.
Construction prioritizing sustainability, self-sufficiency and resilience to climate change deserves equally comprehensive technology. We possess the resources and creativity to drive sustainable innovation, shaping future cities that are both self-sufficient and stunningly designed.
Sustainable construction: Technological advancement with virtual twins
Supporting smart cities with climate-aware construction practices is one of our priorities. In 2017, we teamed up for the first time with Bouygues Construction with a goal: to revolutionize the future of construction. With new cloud-based, mobile-enabled approaches empowered by a construction virtual twin, we saw a future where construction could be safer, more efficient and sustainable.
Over the years, our partnership with Bouygues to enhance construction technology has led to the creation of three new systems on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform: “Integrated Built Environment,” “Inclusive Urban Future,” and “Building Design for Fabrication.” These systems provide a broad range of customized, high-quality features intended to boost on-site productivity, improve quality, reduce errors, ensure compliance with new sustainability standards and enhance predictability in project delivery.
Sustainable construction is a priority for cities continually expanding in an era when they must protect against climate change and strive to enhance and preserve the environment. Our virtual twins with construction features meet these innovators where they are—at the forefront of their fields in design, urban planning and construction—and provide tools to advance their innovation further.
Climate-resilient infrastructure using virtual twins in Keihana, Japan
The virtual twin experience gives cities a scalable platform to address urban challenges. In 2021, we began a partnership with NTT Communications in Japan, supplying the necessary technology for the nation to tackle urban issues related to sustainability across various domains, including energy consumption and enhanced mobility. However, virtual twin technology supports more than just sustainable design; it can also make our cities more resilient.
In early January, a powerful earthquake struck central Japan, toppling buildings, causing power outages that disrupted transportation and communication and igniting fires that engulfed part of an urban area home to 27,000 residents. Climate-resilient urban infrastructure can empower us to anticipate and adapt to these evolving climate conditions effectively.
In collaboration with NTT Communications, we showcased the capabilities of city virtual twins to support the Smart Keihana Project, sponsored by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Keihanna, one of Japan’s major cities, has been modeled in 3D, allowing officials to visualize, analyze, collaborate and make informed decisions on various initiatives and projects related to smart cities.
The Keihanna virtual twin, developed on the innovative 3DEXPERIENCE platform, effectively consolidates vital construction information, including building specifications, business types and capacities, to assess potential river flooding impacts. The virtual twin also provides essential information about evacuation centers, ensuring community safety and supporting effective disaster response. By integrating NTT mobile spatial statistics, users can visualize population movements and gain deeper insights into flood effects.
Virtual twins pave the way for Ukraine’s smart reconstruction
In the wake of conflict, Ukraine is pioneering virtual twin technology to rebuild its cities, most notably Chernihiv in the northern region. A consortium led by Dassault Systèmes, EGIS and B4, with French government support, is executing a two-phase rebuilding strategy.
In the first phase, satellite data and AI-driven analysis assess the extent of destruction and prioritize infrastructure restoration, ensuring targeted and cost-effective reconstruction efforts.
The second phase involves creating a detailed 3D virtual twin of Chernihiv using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Urban planners, engineers and civic leaders simulate countless scenarios—from building layout and transportation networks to flood risk and utility mapping—before breaking ground.
This unified digital model supports data-driven master planning, emphasizing sustainability, climate resilience and optimized public services. By enabling stakeholders to explore unlimited scenarios enriched with expert knowledge and real-world data, the virtual twin method ensures that reconstruction efforts restore and elevate the urban environment. This approach offers Ukraine a resilient, smarter urban future—transforming war-torn zones into sustainable, community-focused cities with optimized infrastructure, public mobility and improved quality of life.
Virtual twins: a powerful climate tool for cities
As climate change accelerates, cities must shift from reactive crisis management to proactive systems design. Virtual twins facilitate this transition. By simulating the future, cities and businesses can perform “what-if” analyses under various climate scenarios, identify at-risk infrastructure and neighborhoods, optimize emissions reduction strategies and allocate resources more equitably and effectively.
With Virtual Twins as a Service (VTaaS), our virtual twin technology is now more accessible than ever. VTaaS is a concept that can allow everyone, including cities with limited technical capacity, to simulate the future using a tailored Virtual Twin Experience.
“Achieving the best results within the shortest time frame is critical for cities to combat climate change effectively,” says Elie Beignon, senior director of VTaaS for Infrastructure and Cities at Dassault Systèmes. “This is where VTaaS can add value, especially for cities without extensive technical resources or dedicated IT budgets.” The Sustainability and Resilience Cockpit for Cities showcases how virtual twins can transform the future of climate resilience.
Virtual twins help cities act faster and smarter when time matters most by turning complexity into clarity. This isn’t just theory; cities using virtual twins have reported faster decision-making, reduced planning costs and improved risk forecasting.
Virtual twins create a shared language across government departments, technical teams and citizens. This shared language, based on the data and simulations provided by virtual twins, fosters understanding and collaboration. All stakeholders are aligned regarding urban planning and development when using virtual twins.
Virtual twins: Building the cities of tomorrow, today
Virtual twin technology is more than a digital innovation—it’s a paradigm shift in how we imagine, design and govern our cities. By creating dynamic, data-rich digital replicas of urban environments, virtual twins enable city leaders, planners and communities to explore possibilities, test policies and optimize infrastructure before committing resources in the real world.
Today’s urban challenges require holistic, participatory and data-driven solutions. Virtual twins provide that foundation. Using AI, they enable cities to simulate the impact of green infrastructure, emergency preparedness plans or zoning reforms in advance, ensuring that every decision supports long-term resilience and equity.
At Dassault Systèmes, we believe cities can become living laboratories where simulation empowers sustainable progress and inclusive development. Our vision for a smarter, more sustainable urban future is now a reality. We don’t have to wait any longer for the future; we can model, simulate and shape it together.