Interview: “Digital Twins for Cities” now available in English

In May 2022, TUM’s renowned continuing education program “Digital Twins for Cities” for experts and professionals from architecture and urban planning will launch for the first time in English and in a virtual format. Kasimir Forth, Managing Director of the Leonhard Obermeyer Center, and Stefan Trometer, Managing Director Business Development at Virtual City Systems, are partners of the program. In a short interview, they tell us what is special about the course and which cities are already considered best cases for digital cities.

What is special about the “Digital Twins for Cities” course, which starts in May at the TUM Institute for LifeLong Learning?

Kasimir Forth: For the first time, the course will take place exclusively in English and is aimed at European and international participants. In addition, the individual lectures will be held virtually in half-day slots. This will allow participants from all over the world to attend. In addition, the focus is on international networking among each other and with our lecturers.

Stefan Trometer: For me, the unique characteristic of this course – compared to all other training courses in the fields of urban modeling, building modeling and applications – is the cross-thematic approach, which takes into account the needs from practice. Secondly, the extremely high quality selection of lecturers, who not only represent teaching and research, but at the same time contributions from practice, users and solution providers.

What are the advantages of the “Digital Twins method” for urban planners and architects?

Stefan Trometer: ‘A view beyond the end of one’s nose’. On the one hand, of course, into the future, but also to the left and right to semantic urban modeling and innovative digital applications. For example, urban simulations as a strategic tool allow making earlier, faster, cheaper, better decisions – also and perhaps especially in the planning context.

Kasimir Forth: To meet the challenges for climate-adapted, livable cities of tomorrow, complex solutions are necessary. Digital twins form the basic framework of the city of tomorrow.

Which cities are already best cases for “digital cities” or are perhaps already working with a digital twin model?

Kasimir Forth: Worldwide, there have already been pioneers in the field of smart cities for several years, although this term is not protected. However, cities like Helsinki and Rotterdam have done a lot of pioneering work in recent years and have already implemented some use cases. Cities like Munich and Hamburg are also working on connecting different urban twins. Therefore, we are very happy that experiences from these cities will also be presented first-hand in the course.

Stefan Trometer: I think it’s important to say that in addition to these large cities as beacons, there are now also more and more medium-sized and small cities that are being convinced of the benefits. They benefit especially from the preliminary work of the big players, which leads to a kind of ‘democratization’ of the solutions.

For whom is the Digital Twins for Cities program ideal?

Stefan Trometer: For people who are coming across the topic of Urban Digital Twins in their daily work and want to get a well-founded and compact overview of current developments and possibilities. For experts and professionals who are interested in networking and international exchange.

Kasimir Forth: The training program is aimed at executives and project managers from the fields of urban planning and architecture, as well as employees of local authorities who are responsible for planning. At the same time, we are welcoming interested professionals from the fields of smart city, geoinformation, consulting, citizen participation – we are particularly looking forward to these interdisciplinary perspectives.

For more information on the certificate program, please click here.