RT Journal Article
T1 An Open-Source Urban Digital Twin for Enhancing Outdoor Thermal Comfort in the City of Huelva (Spain)
A1 López Cabeza, Victoria Patricia
A1 Videras Rodríguez, Marta
A1 Gómez Melgar, Sergio Jesús
AB Climate change and urbanization are intensifying the urban heat island effect and negatively impacting outdoor thermal comfort in cities. Innovative planning strategies are required to design more livable and resilient urban spaces. Building on a state of the art of current Urban Digital Twins (UDTs) for outdoor thermal comfort analysis, this paper presents the design and implementation of a functional UDT prototype. Developed for a pilot area in Huelva, Spain, the system integrates real-time environmental data, spatial modeling, and simulation tools within an open-source architecture. The literature reveals that while UDTs are increasingly used in urban management, their application to outdoor thermal comfort remains limited and technically challenging, especially in terms of real-time data, modeling accuracy, and user interaction. The case study demonstrates the feasibility of a modular, open-source UDT capable of simulating mean radiant temperature and outdoor thermal comfort indexes at high resolution and visualizing the results in a 3D interactive environment. UDTs have strong potential for supporting microclimate-sensitive planning and improving outdoor thermal comfort. However, important challenges remain, particularly in simulation efficiency, model detail, and stakeholder accessibility. The proposed prototype addresses several of these gaps and provides a basis for future improvements.
PB MDPI
SN 2624-6511 (electrónico)
YR 2025
FD 2025
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/27190
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/27190
LA eng
NO López-Cabeza, V.P.; Videras-Rodríguez, M.; Gómez-Melgar, S. (2025). An Open-Source Urban Digital Twin for Enhancing Outdoor Thermal Comfort in the City of Huelva (Spain). Smart Cities, 8, 160. https://doi.org/10.3390/ smartcities8050160
NO This work has been supported by the project AVADTUS (PID2023-146213OA-I00) funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”, and by the National Government of Spain, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades through a Juan de la Cierva Postdoctoral Fellowship granted to V.P. L.-C. (JDC2023-050880-I).
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 30 may 2026