During the summer semester 2025, TU Wien’s Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Institute of Spatial Planning, offered an innovative course entitled Digital Twins in the Context of Renaturation: Nature-Based and Digital Solutions for Spatial Planning. The seminar, led by visiting professor Fabian Dembski, explored how digital technologies can be combined with ecological approaches to address pressing climate challenges in urban and regional planning.

At the core of the course were Digital Twins – virtual counterparts of real-world cities and landscapes – and their potential for planning and implementing renaturation measures. Students were introduced to the technological foundations of digital twins, learning how they can be used for monitoring, prediction, simulation, and visualization. Special emphasis was placed on nature-based solutions (NBS) in urban contexts, a topic of growing relevance in light of the recently adopted EU Renaturation Act.

A highlight of the seminar was the use of TU Wien Library’s Data Visualisation Space (DAVIS) – a cutting-edge VR environment featuring a 3D LED wall that allows up to 20 people to collaborate in immersive data spaces simultaneously. Here, students could engage directly with interactive digital twins and test their potential applications for participatory urban planning.

Real-world examples from Estonia and Germany provided the basis for discussing how complex urban twins can be constructed and how interfaces can be designed to include citizens and stakeholders in the planning process. The seminar thereby emphasized the importance of collaborative and democratic approaches that integrate both digital tools and ecological strategies.

The course was further enriched by a guest lecture from John Warren (University College Dublin) and an excursion to the Infrared City, guided by Angelos Chronis (CEO & Co-Founder).

Bringing together theory, practice, and international perspectives, the course aimed to prepare the next generation of planners and decision-makers to design sustainable and resilient cities and regions.

Fabian Dembski was Visiting Professor at TU Wien’s Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Planning in the summer semester 2025. He is Research Professor at Tallinn University of Technology, Academy of Architecture and Urban Studies (Estonia), and also conducts research at the High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (Germany).