Two days in Stockholm in January sounds like snow, short days, cinnamon buns … and digital twins.

Together with the project partners from the CITWIN project, Lucas (Luuk) van der Meer and Martin Loidl discussed the progress of the conceptual work on a digital twins for urban mobility systems and entered into an in-depth dialogue with representatives from cities. One of the main tasks in the second half of the research project will be to get to know their demands and take them into account in the pilot implementations. The excursion (including a bike ride!) to Eskilstuna proved to be very helpful in this respect. The city west of Stockholm is a partner in the project and, together with Aarhus in Denmark, serves as living lab for all research results and developments.

Luuk is currently writing his dissertation as part of this transnational DUT project. His research focuses in particular on the modelling of accessibility indicators in a 15-minute city. He presented his open literature analysis in Stockholm, as well as his critical examination of digital twin concepts in human-centred urban planning. The submission of both research articles to prestigious journals is planned for the end of March this year.

Many thanks to Prof. Fariya Sharmeen from KTH Stockholm, who served as an excellent hostess (… and fed us with regular fikas!).