In this episode, recorded at the Smart City Expo World Congress 2025, we travel to the City of Hamburg with Dr. Nora Reinecke, Project Manager for the Connected Urban Twins project.

Nora explains how Hamburg is moving beyond the buzzwords to implement digital twins that address real urban challenges, from climate resilience and flooding to complex urban planning scenarios. She discusses the collaborative approach among Hamburg, Leipzig, and Munich, emphasizing the need for open-source tools and demand-driven strategies rather than technology for its own sake.

The conversation also covers the practical application of GeoAI, the importance of citizen participation, and how to mitigate bias in urban data to ensure inclusive outcomes for all residents.

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• (00:00:00) - Intro
• (00:02:14) - Teaser question: If you had to describe Hamburg with these three emojis, which would you use and why?
• (00:03:29) - Guest background
• (00:05:13) - Hamburg's Current State
• (00:06:27) - Connected Urban Twins Project
• (00:08:27) - Solving Urban Challenges
• (00:10:26) - Digital Twin Use Case
• (00:11:59) - Are Digital Twins Overhyped?
• (00:12:40) - Understanding GeoAI
• (00:14:33) - Mitigating AI Bias
• (00:15:41) - Advice for Cities
• (00:18:00) - Procurement vs In-House Development
• (00:19:23) - Remaining Bottlenecks
• (00:21:56) - Importance of Citizen Participation
• (00:23:43) - Segment: Trial and Error
• (00:25:17) - Ending question: “To you, what is a Smart City?”