Europe’s summer of 2025 brought record heat, and urban centers felt it harder thanks to the “urban heat island” effect, where concrete, asphalt, and low vegetation trap and amplify temperature, especially at night. Cities can be several degrees warmer than surrounding rural areas, worsening health risks, straining infrastructure, and driving economic costs, says 3DS Blog.
To confront this, some cities are using virtual twins, digital models of neighborhoods that integrate buildings, streets, vegetation, airflow, sun exposure, and materials, to simulate how heat spreads and how interventions might work. The French city of Meudon (in the Paris region) is a leading example. Under its “Meudon 2040” plan, officials partnered with Dassault Systèmes to simulate various greening and material-change strategies across key zones.
Meudon’s digital twin allows city planners to “walk through” different scenarios: converting surfaces to permeable soil, redesigning layouts, planting more trees, or altering pavement materials. The simulations project localized temperature changes, helping identify which interventions cool most effectively in which spots. Because these experiments run virtually, officials can compare alternatives before committing to costly infrastructure.
Beyond technical planning, the models aid public communication. In Meudon, 3D visuals are used in council meetings and community sessions so residents can see how their neighborhoods might evolve. That helps build buy-in and transparency for decisions.
Under the banner “Sustainability and Resilience Cockpit for Cities,” Dassault Systèmes offers this virtual twin capability as a service, aiming to make it accessible even to smaller cities without heavy tech investments.
Virtual twins are shifting from experimentation to essential urban tools. As climate impacts intensify, digital foresight allows cities to test, refine, and communicate strategies for cooling their streets and safeguarding communities.