On the one hand, large amounts of energy and resources are consumed in urban areas; on the other hand, cities also offer great potential for efficiency due to their density. Accordingly, administrations are called upon to develop strategies for the efficient use of resources and adaptation strategies. Munich’s digital twin supports the development and implementation of measures for climate-neutral, energy- and resource-efficient urban development, both at a city-wide and neighborhood level. It thus contributes to achieving the ambitious municipal goal of a city in balance and climate neutrality by 2035.
Energy utilization plan Munich
The Energy Utilization Plan is an informal strategic planning instrument that covers the entire urban area of the City of Munich. It formulates spatial energy efficiency targets for energy generation, distribution and consumption. By spatially locating heat requirements and renewable energy supply options, energy optimization potentials in the urban area are identified. The results of the energy use plan are stored in the database, displayed on detailed maps and summarized in a catalog of measures that includes targeted energy efficiency measures for the entire city area. The energy utilization plan forms a basis for further planning steps, for example for integrated urban development concepts, urban land-use planning, structural concepts, preliminary studies and integrated neighborhood concepts as well as for redevelopment management.
Integrated neighborhood approach
Following the city-wide analysis, the strategy of the integrated neighborhood approach for climate-neutral and climate-resilient neighborhoods is implemented based on the results and recommended measures of the energy use plan and the planning law requirements.
Taking into account urban planning, monument preservation, building culture, nature conservation, housing, demographic and social aspects, integrated neighborhood concepts show the technical and economic potential for saving energy, options for using renewable energies in the neighborhood supply and possibilities for adapting to climate change in the neighborhood. With the integrated processing of the named technical aspects, synergy effects can be leveraged and conflicts of objectives minimized, particularly in the neighborhood.
The use case selected in the CUT project focuses on the conception phase of neighborhoods. A dedicated “neighborhood development tool” is being developed for this purpose, which will support planners from the initial assessment of potential neighborhoods through to the definition of a neighborhood and the topics to be addressed in the future.
Current challenges in the planning process
In order to develop the Digital Twin Munich into a scalable tool in the integrated neighborhood approach, expertise must be created in the following areas:
- Information management
Information management primarily refers to the large number of different data types, sources and systems that are often created independently of each other and maintained by different departments. Data exchange between these systems is sometimes not possible or only possible with a great deal of manual effort, making it difficult to use relevant information. In addition, some of the systems currently in use do not allow the processing of georeferenced data.
- Visualization and analysis
In order to reach a well-founded decision, it is necessary to take an integrated view of a wide range of data for a specific issue. In some cases, analyses can only be carried out with special software knowledge and expert knowledge, or are carried out with many cumbersome individual analyses that are very time-consuming. It is currently not possible to combine the analysis results and visualize them in a user interface.
- Collaboration and transparency
Collaboration and transparency are crucial for many workflows and processes. The presentation of work results is currently only possible via static maps, which makes it difficult to coordinate participants and stakeholders, especially in the case of dynamic developments.

Neighborhood development tool for integrated neighborhood development
The neighborhood development tool in Munich’s digital twin is designed to provide access to all the necessary information in one place. By visualizing the content in maps, diagrams, dashboards, etc., the web tool conveys it clearly and comprehensibly and supports decision-making through integrated analysis functions. In the participation process of various stakeholders, target group-specific information can be communicated in line with requirements. In addition, export and import functions are designed to ensure simple data exchange.