Paradigm: the first winner of the Smart City Challenge 2024 with the TreeCity project
Cracked roadways, lifting pavements, conflicting underground land use juggling technical networks and tree roots... Managing underground infrastructure in urban areas is a growing challenge for cities. With TreeCity, Paradigm is providing an innovative digital twin focused on trees, integrating their root systems for the first time.
This project, the result of a collaboration with Opens in new windowFARI (the Artificial Intelligence Institute for the Common Good) and several partners, is the first of three winners of the Opens in new windowSmart City Challenge 2024 organised by the Tallinn-based Opens in new windowFinEst Centre for Smart Cities, out of over 40 European entries. This ambitious partnership includes the Tallinn University of Technology (Opens in new windowTalTech), the cities of Tallinn and Helsinki, the Opens in new windowUniversity of Liège (Opens in new windowGeoScITY), Opens in new windowGreenTwin.ai and Opens in new windowFARI (ULB/VUB). Its aim is to model the interactions between roots and infrastructure – interactions that are often invisible but still have a major impact.
TreeCity will enable cities to visualise the invisible interactions between living organisms and infrastructure, so as to improve urban planning, avoid damage to underground infrastructure and strengthen the territories' resilience, all while preserving biodiversity.
The project, financed by the Estonian European ERDF fund and Estonia's digital strategy, is scheduled to start in January 2026, with European funding to be spread over two years. The initiative is expected to result in a GIS (geographic information systems) platform module within two years.
Find out more: External linkread the press release.