The Twin for Resilience (T4R) project is a European Interreg-funded initiative in which Dublin City Council is developing and deploying digital twin technologies for urban resilience planning and infrastructure management. The project brings together cities and research institutions from across Europe to explore how 3D modelling technologies — including drone surveys, building information models (BIM), and LIDAR scanning — can create detailed virtual replicas of urban environments that support more informed planning decisions and emergency response capabilities.
Dublin's participation in T4R focuses on creating high-resolution digital twins of key areas of the city, integrating multiple data sources including aerial imagery, ground-level sensor data, underground utility mapping, and building energy performance information. These digital twins enable city planners to simulate the impacts of proposed developments, assess flood risk scenarios, model energy demand patterns, and evaluate the effects of green infrastructure interventions before committing to physical changes.
Different departments within Dublin City Council have been experimenting with state-of-the-art surveying and mapping technologies as part of the project, building internal capability and developing workflows for maintaining and updating digital twin models over time. The project also addresses governance questions around data sharing, model access, and the integration of digital twins with existing municipal information systems.
T4R represents an important step in Dublin's journey towards data-driven urban management, demonstrating how digital twin technology can move from experimental research into practical municipal use. The cross-European partnership ensures that Dublin's experience is enriched by approaches from other cities, while the city's insights contribute to the broader European knowledge base on digital twin applications for urban resilience and sustainable development.