CitizenCity
Basic Pilot Info:
Involved Cities:
Eindhoven (the Netherlands)
Oulu (Finland)
Province of Alava (Spain)
Duration: 1 March 2025 - 31 August 2026 (18 Months)
Domains:
Data-services related to weather, climate and extreme weather events
Management of energy flows
Predictive traffic management/sustainable mobility planning
Motivation:
The project is driven by the ambition to demonstrate how smart use of data can create tangible social value within sustainable environments. All use cases focus on key societal aspects, such as establishing a strong data foundation for living in a positive energy district, leveraging optimized traffic information during hazardous road conditions, and enhancing everyday life in newly developed sustainable smart districts. Our approach is not just technological, it is for and by citizens. Citizens are the gamechangers of the future. We support them in their way of life in the cities by offering them information based on data-insights.
The project ensures equal support for all use cases that contribute comparable outcomes in terms of social impact, building on the potential of Data Spaces for Smart, Sustainable Cities and Communities.
Scalable Engagement for Future-Ready Cities
The stakeholder engagement model developed in this project offers scalability and transferability across diverse urban contexts. By centering on iterative engagement, real-world user insights, and co-creation, the methodology supports the project’s pilot case cities in aligning stakeholder needs with practical, data-informed solutions. Its structured yet adaptable design enables seamless integration into other pilots beyond the original project scope. Whether applied in mobility, energy, governance, or public services, this model facilitates the implementation of data space approaches that are inclusive, actionable, and tailored to the priorities of all involved stakeholders. Cities seeking to build interoperable and participatory digital ecosystems can adopt this model as a foundation for durable, context-sensitive innovation.
University Participation:
University participation in this project adds a positive impact to society. Fontys University of Applied Sciences and Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) play a key academic role in the DS4SSCC pilot project within CitizenCity. Their involvement focuses on guiding student-led research and design projects that directly contribute to the technical infrastructure of the data space. This includes research into potential components for data exchange, identity and attestation management, and provenance and traceability systems. In addition, students and researchers from the participating institutions support the validation of the pilot project’s trust framework by exploring the technological suitability and generalizability of its building blocks. Their work not only strengthens the fundamental architecture of the data space but also informs the project’s broader societal goals through applied research and practical experimentation in real urban use case contexts. Academic participation also includes research on governance, compliance, and digital law—addressing how data spaces can meet legal and ethical standards, ensure accountability, and protect citizens’ rights. A dedicated Stakeholder engagement model will be provided by TU/e , as citizens are at the main stakeholders in the use cases deployed. This incorporates analyzing the regulatory landscape, designing transparent data governance structures, and contributing input for the validation model that ensures the technological and legal suitability of the data space building blocks across diverse scenarios.
Use Case Description:
Use Case 1: Eindhoven: The pilot for the City of Eindhoven concerns the realisation of a Positive Energy District (PED). Collected energy data will be added to the existing Stratum data platform feeding the municipal Woningbouw monitoring app to monitor progress of the 40.000 new homes to be built by 2040, compliant with the energy transition targets; plus the transformation of existing homes from natural gas to renewable energy. The new data service will be embedded in the municipal organization to support multiple departments, businesses, knowledge institutes and citizens, to guarantee the future of the project results, building on experiences with the Woonconnect app of the EU Triangulum project. The energy data will be combined with liveability and social resilience data in the Buurtkijker app.
Use Case 2: Oulu: The use case in Oulu focusses on a Cross Sectoral Participation Dataspace compliant with a local Digital Twin to communicate and interact with the citizens in the new Hartaanselkä region. The aim is to increase the liveability of city regions and create more sustainable behaviour through new means of communication, using an AI chatbot that is voice interactive. The “Oulu data space (ODS)” model for public service data, includes at the start weather, traffic, waste, water and other service-related data from different sources. The digital twin can be accessed through multiple end devices and will support the AI chatbot. The implementation will lead to new forms of public services and citizen participation.
Use Case 3: Mobility Lab Vitoria-Gasteiz: The province of Alava faces significant challenges during winter due to adverse weather conditions such as snow and ice, which impact on road safety and transport efficiency. Alava can experience heavy snowfall and sub-zero temperatures, which complicate road management as this is a complex issue which requires meticulous attention to multiple data sources to guarantee traffic efficiency and road user safety. More effective and coordinated management of winter road conditions is needed, using meteorological, traffic and road infrastructure data to make informed decisions and improve the response to extreme weather events.
Álava’s use case will be hosted on Azure with Microsoft Fabric and connected through NIEVES for data processing. The alert app will leverage NIEVES data but will operate as an independent system designed to engage directly with end-users without needing them to access the NIEVES platform itself.
Scaling Across Borders:
- For Álava: Expand this data-centric approach to other strategic sectors such as energy, environment, and circular economy. With an ambition if this already is doable in this project.
- For Eindhoven scaling is aiming at regional and national level, activating the 21 cities from Metropole Region Eindhoven and the member cities of VNG (National Community of Cities).
- For Oulu scaling is aiming national level, activating the member cities of the Finnish Council of Cities.
Advancing IDEA Technology:
- Strengthening cross-regional collaboration and advancing the evolution of C-ITS solutions
Cross-National Collaboration:
- In Álava participation and contribution of local businesses and startups in the data ecosystem will lead to new products, services, and job opportunities.
Added Value:
The added value of the use cases is that shared data not only supports improving the management of the city of the roads but also offers information to ensure safety or a better way of living in the city. The use case involves divers stakeholders, inviting them to engage and participate actively. Using a data space builds crucial trust between public authorities, private companies, and citizens.
Social
- Enhanced inclusivity: New data-driven services will boost common good, for be aware of the use of energy and saving possibilities, gives possibilities to communities for sharing collected energy by data insights to improve liveability.
- Enhanced safety and inclusivity: New data-driven services will boost public confidence, creating safer and more inclusive environments for all road users.
- Shared awareness for better decisions: Improved information sharing among partners increases collective awareness of weather-related road risks, enhancing traffic safety.
Sustainable
- Smarter resource management: Advanced communication technologies enable efficient, real-time data use, reducing environmental impacts through better-informed decisions.
- Path to climate neutrality: The project supports the region’s climate goals while fostering open, resilient innovation aligned with EU sustainability objectives.
- Platform where resident initiatives can start.
Scenario – suggestions human centric
- Predictive insights for smoother travel: Anticipating Road conditions and traffic disruptions empowers users to make safer, more efficient travel decisions.
- Integrated data for seamless flow: Unified data from diverse sources supports adaptive traffic management, improving overall mobility and reducing congestion.
- Balance energy consumption and energy collection
Want to learn more about CitizenCity? Visit the oficial CitizenCity website here.
Website link is www.citizencity.online