Rotterdam’s Digital Twin: Fighting Climate Change with AI

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Last week, Roland van der Heijden introduced us to Rotterdam’s Open Urban Platform (OUP) and its Digital Twin, a three-dimensional, real-time copy of the city. This platform is more than just a digital map. It is a shared system where data from sensors, companies, and citizens all come together. From traffic to air quality, everything can be shown in one common model.

But what if this digital version of Rotterdam could also help us prepare for climate change? The Netherlands is very vulnerable to rising sea levels and heavy rainfall. Imagine running flood simulations inside the Digital Twin: testing how storm surges move through neighbourhoods, where sewage systems might fail, and how well our infrastructure can cope.

The OUP already includes tools for flood analysis and heat-stress mapping. These tools can help city leaders explore worst-case scenarios before they happen. During a crisis, live data streams could update the model in real time, helping first responders and guiding evacuation plans.

This is where AI could make a big difference. Traditional flood simulations can take a lot of time, but AI can work like a “fast-forward” button. By learning from earlier simulations, AI can predict outcomes in seconds. This means decision-makers can test many more scenarios, explore different risks, and choose better responses.

The real power comes from the platform logic we discussed in class: the value grows as more people and organizations join. If municipalities, universities, businesses, and citizens all share their data, the OUP becomes not only a better tool for simulations but also a training ground for AI models. The more diverse and continuous the data, the smarter and more reliable these models become.

So here’s my question: could the Digital Twin, combined with AI, become our most powerful defense against climate risks? Not only predicting where floods might hit, but helping us design a safer future city together?