Introduction
Rennes, the capital of Brittany, is a European metropolis renowned for
its quality of life, the richness of its cultural programme, the diversity of
its heritage, its contemporary art offer and its exciting student life. Be it
digital, cybersecurity, mobility, eco-industries, health, cultural and creative
industries or food, Rennes is the beating heart of the regional economy.
Role in T4R
When you deal with innovation, making the right choice can be difficult.
Rennes Metropole has been exploring the topic of a digital twin for several
years, starting with a complete 3D model of the urban area and developing its
own cooperation platform. Rennes is now willing to share its experience on the
topic with other European cities and experts to help figure out the best
approach to make local digital twins a tool for more resilient cities in the
future.
Rennes Metropole has several pilot projects ongoing on the environmental and mobility themes, most notably:
- Solar cadastre: a 3D model to visualize the potential for solar power installation on every building of the metropolis
- Trambus network: a 2D/3D map to visualize the future trambus network and all the mobility offer within the metropolis
Moreover, the metropolis is working on other themes such as:
- Urban heat islands and the greenery in the city – using real-time data from IoT sensors
- The "Zero net artificialization" approach - involving experimentation on the linked data technology (see below)
- How to improve walking within the metropolis?
Rennes Metropole has always been working in partnerships. Rennes is currently leading the CityOrchestra project, which involves 16 partners to define and operate a set of open-source tools (including the local digital twin) dedicated to leveraging the power of data for the ecological transition. In this context, Rennes Metropole is currently working with CSTB on the "linked data" technology to explore a different way to process data in order to facilitate the use of complex models and data manipulations.
Expected outcomes
Rennes Metropole aims to demonstrate in only 3 years how the use of data
with the right tools and expertise can actually make a change when it comes to
adapt to climate change and resilience. But to really make a change, these
innovations must be transformed into new and/or improved public services for
the inhabitants. For example, Rennes will develop with local partner Someware a
"cool itinerary" tool to calculate the best route during heat waves,
based on real-time temperature data and 3D modelling.
