3D and digital twin tech to help rebuild cities in Ukraine
Ukrainian government has chosen Egis, Dassault Systèmes and B4 for their expertise and experience in 3D virtual technologies to reconstruct urban areas.
The Ukrainian government has selected Egis, Dassault Systèmes, and B4 for a partnership project to help rebuild cities damaged as the result of the invasion in Ukraine.
The project will combine Dassault Systèmes’ 3DExperience platform and Egis’ and B4’s construction engineering expertise, in a two-phase approach: a damage assessment and reconstruction cost analysis in the Chernihiv Oblast, followed by a strategic master planning for reconstruction in the city of Chernihiv.
Reconstruction costs
Phase one will consist of diagnosing the damages in the Oblast, to forecast the reconstruction costs and define which infrastructures to rebuild first. Dassault Systèmes’ platform will support the collaboration and host all the information and analysis gathered by Egis and B4 experts.
Satellite data analysis will automatically detect and highlight impacted areas and will be cross-checked by inspections in the field to validate the calculations and the prioritisation strategy.
The second phase will involve building a virtual twin of the city of Chernihiv on the 3DExperience platform. It will focus on optimising how the city will be rebuilt including the design of new buildings and the organisation of city transportation, infrastructure and other services.
“We aim to help local authorities improve cities in Ukraine, and life within them, through this meaningful joint project that will have impacts over the long-term”
Stakeholders from diverse sectors will use the virtual twin to collaboratively test different scenarios involving parameters such as flooding risks, accessibility, transportation, land use, position of key urban assets, and existing water, heat, sewage, and other infrastructure networks.
In parallel, they will source information from existing documents and city departments to ensure that the needs and expectations of inhabitants in each neighbourhood, the vision of elected officials, and economic and social development challenges are all taken into account.
“Egis has been operating in Ukraine since 1993, working on a variety of private and government funded projects across various sectors such as civil engineering, road and bridge construction, water, urban transport; ports and waterways and energy,” said Laurent Germain, CEO of Egis.
“Today we run 23 projects in Ukraine that aim to rebuild cities and infrastructure. So the rebuilding of Chernihiv Oblast and the city of Chernihiv will be one more opportunity to bring the company’s global experience to the country.”
According to Germain, this includes: low-carbon and bioclimatic city design; cycle-friendly cities; better public transport and carpooling infrastructure; designing safe, green and hospitable public spaces; as well as other Egis “key design principles” for smart, sustainable cities.
Throughout the project, all information collected will be fed into the virtual twin of the city to enable the partners to collaboratively build the city master plan.
“We aim to help local authorities improve cities in Ukraine, and life within them, through this meaningful joint project that will have impacts over the long-term. Our 3DExperience platform plays an integral role in building more sustainable, resilient cities,” said Florence Verzelen, executive vice president, industry, marketing and sustainability, Dassault Systèmes.
He added: “Virtual twin experiences enriched with expert knowledge, know-how and data enable us to explore unlimited scenarios and optimise the ones that will best answer the needs of the population, address climate change, upgrade plans for public transportation, smart services and utilities.”
The reconstruction of urban areas in Ukraine project is supported by the French government with a grant from the French Treasury.