Barcelona will have a twin city in the virtual world, created from multiple overlapping data layers. It is being prepared by the City Council, Barcelona Regional and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center – National Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS), which they hope to achieve with this digital replica a privileged testing ground for public policies on mobility, housing, economy or health.
This video report from El Periódico, prepared by Patricio Ortiz and Manu Mitru, brings this technological innovation to the general public. The head of Data Visualization and Analytics of the BSC-CNS, Fernando Cucchiettiexplains in plain words what kind of potential applications has this tool under construction and the dangers those he faces.
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“The type of things we are interested in are questions that cannot be solved with a single simulation: How will the economy of a neighborhood change if we close certain streets? If the proportion of electric vehicles and scooters increases or if we change street furniture, what effect will we obtain on the health of the population? Will there be gentrification? Or more tourism?”, he exemplifies.
However, Cucchietti warns that the data are not neutral but may contain or generate a “bias.” in perspective. For this reason, the project team has conspired to identify possible gaps and to build a digital twin that is “auditable, transparent and as open as possible.” to the citizens.