Many supercomputing servers in the hall of an older building as part of the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre
Martidaniel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

ISCN Global Mixer: Data-driven Assessment of Climate Shelters’ Accessibility in Barcelona

In this episode of the ISCN Global Mixer, Serena Mombelli and Patricio Reyes from vCity, a platform led by the Data Analytics and Visualization Group at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, shared insights on how data-driven analysis can support human-centred urban planning and policy-making. In this session they present a use case approximating in greater detail whether high-risk groups have adequate access to Barcelona's climate shelters during heatwaves.

Event details

climate protection & adaptation data visualisation digital platform digital urban planning resilience
Datetime
21.10.2024, 11:00 - 11:30
Event type
Hybrid (online & offline)
Participate online
Dokumentation
Download ICS File

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Currently, vCity is looking for new cities to collaborate! 

If you are interested to implement a study or a use case in your municipality, feel free to reach out to vCity:

 hello@vcity-tech
www.vcity.tech

vCity works in the following areas:

  • Proximity: Accessibility of facilities, for example Climate Shelters Barcelona study
  • Air Quality: Democratizing the access to models for air quality forecasting (models are trained with the capabilities of the BSC, but can be used without supercomputers by cities)
  • Cycling: Efficient planning and implementation of networks of bike lanes
  • Mobility: Creating a multi modal model
  • Sustainability: Developing indicatiors to measure the preparedness of cities for circular economy and green transition. 

The costs are covered by the current public funding of the vCity projects. Interested cities thus only need to share access to data sources and local knowledge for their use cases or studies, for example through urban planners, policy-makers or project managers, to benefit from a great cooperation and leverage expert knowledge and supercomputing resources!

Agreements can be formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), if needed, with 2-3 months preparation time.

 

In this episode of the ISCN Global Mixer, Serena Mombelli and Patricio Reyes, researchers at the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BSC) presented the project vCity, which provides Cities a human centric platform for urban data twins. 

The platform offers solutions for cities in different areas, and demonstrates the capabilities of digitalisation in cities. The projects so far works in the areas of proximity, air quality, cycling, mobility and sustainability.

The presentation focused on the analysis of Climate Shelter Accessibility in Barcelona, a result of a collaboration between Barcelona City Council and vCity. The study is one of the use cases in the Urban Lab for Proximity. 

Cities globally are increasingly affected by heatwaves, and many municipalities are seeking solutions to protect vulnerable groups. Barcelona has over 360 climate shelters in public spaces such as schools, libraries, and parks, providing protection during high temperatures

But do high-risk groups have adequate access to shelters during heat-waves? Serena Mombelli answered this question and gave many more valuable insights into the approach and methodology of the study in her presentation.  

For more information and an interactive map,  visit the project’s website. 

For any further questions, project ideas or matching requirements, feel also free to reach out to us, the International Smart Cities Network (ISCN), via iscn@giz.de 

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