Welcome to our Digital City Science blog

Welcome to the blog of Digital City Science at HafenCity University Hamburg. Join us on a journey through our international research projects, exciting field trips, and innovative ideas. Under the claim “Exploring Urban Systems”, we share our vision and approaches to shaping sustainable, smart cities. Discover our work, meet our dedicated team, and learn how you can become part of this fascinating research community as a future collaborator or team member.

Research

Dive into our cutting-edge research on digital urban systems. Discover our latest projects and innovative tools shaping the future of cities.

Stories

Read inspiring stories from our team’s research journeys and experiences. Discover personal insights, challenges, and successes from the field as we explore urban systems worldwide.

Team

Meet the dedicated experts driving our research forward. Get to know the passionate minds behind Digital City Science and learn about their roles in shaping the future of urban development.

News

Stay up to date with the latest updates and announcements from Digital City Science. From new partnerships to exciting breakthroughs, catch all the news shaping our work and the world of digital urban research.

About

Digital City Science

From Urban Data to Urban Qualities

Digital City Science at HCU Hamburg explores urban complexity with digital technologies. Our team develops scientific new approaches for the analysis and integrative planning of urban systems. For this purpose, the team comprises expertise in architectural design, urban and spatial planning, media technology, IT, and software development. Cooperating with many partners from academia, business, administration, and civil society, we develop data-based tools and methodologies that are broadly applied on national and international level. Our scientific activities span from fundamental research across applied projects to knowledge transfer by way of scientific teaching and technical capacity building.

Mission Statement

The scientific mission of Digital City Science converges in the idea of shaping spatial environments from and with data and information in order to enable more intelligent and knowledgeable communities.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joerg Rainer Noennig introducing Digital City Science at SmartCity Expo World Congress 2024 in Barcelona.

Video: Iggy Love

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Our Research Focus

Converging the Sustainable and Digital City

In projects like “Sustainable Development of Urban Regions (SURE)” or the COUP tool we explore how two megatrends in current urbanism – the digital transformation of cities and the demand for sustainable urban development.

Multi-layer Analysis of urban Systems

In projects like AGORA or tools like TOSCA we investigate how multiple functional and physical layers of urban systems can be analysed and cross-connected, e.g. social activities, trans-portation and accessibility, noise emission, or stormwater run-off. For this, key instrument of investigation are Agent-Based-Models.

Smart District and Smart Building Data

Investigating smart buildings and neighbourhood developments in Hamburgs and beyond, as well as in academic courses like „Data Café“ or “Designing Thinking Cities”, we develop methods how data from the „internet of buildings“ can be used for intelligent and inclusive urban development.

Global Integrated Urban Development

In international cooperations with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), among others, we search for new approaches how the rapid evolution of urban agglomerations and informal settlements especially in the Global South can be supported by open source tools like the TOSCA toolkit.