March 2026

Imagine being able to see how a new building would look next to your home, understand the traffic it might bring, and suggest changes, all before construction begins. That is the promise of X-CITE. We spoke with Arnaud Verstraete about this smart city project that creates immersive 3D environments where future urban developments can be experienced, tested, and improved. In this interview, Verstraete explains why...

  Urban data often lives in inaccessible places, buried in GIS portals, spreadsheets, or technical reports. Thierry Nolmans, urban planner at Drees & Sommer and member of the SENSE consortium, wants to bring it into the open. In this interview, Nolmans explains how SENSE creates digital representations of cities like Cartagena and Kiel, adding interactive layers that reveal what is normally invisible: mobility patterns, environmental quality,...

Municipalities today are drowning in data standards and policies, unsure of where to start or which ones to follow. Enter Martin Serrano, standardization lead for the SENSE project and researcher at the University of Galway. Serrano has taken on the monumental task of decluttering the technical chaos. In this conversation, he breaks down the four-layer "catalog of standards" developed by SENSE, offering city technologists a...

In an era where urban data often gets lost in spreadsheets and complex reports, the SENSE project is building a bridge between technology and the people it serves. We sat down with Dr. Antonio J. Jara, CTO at Libelium and Technical Director of the European Local Digital Twin Toolbox, to discuss how interactive 3D visualization is democratizing urban planning. Jara explains why making data "beautiful"...