Technology
Brussels Launches 3D Digital Twin While Regional Plan Stalls
The City of Brussels keeps rolling out its 3D virtual model while the wider regional plan sits frozen.
How we reported this
The Digital Twin of Brussels has emerged as the innovation local officials and tech observers are tracking this month. It combines IoT sensors, satellite imagery and a full 3D model to test traffic, energy and planning decisions before they reach the street.
The City of Brussels launched its separate Smart City strategy in March 2023 with a 2030 target and more than 50 projects across seven policy areas. That work continues even though the Brussels-Capital Region suspended its own plan and stopped new initiatives. The split leaves the municipality free to fund projects that the 19 surrounding municipalities can still test on the existing LoRaWAN, SigFox and 5G networks run by the Smart City Office.
Local projects already live
Two other named tools sit alongside the Digital Twin. BRUCE serves as the single resident platform that pulls services into one interface. MolenGeek Laken, the AI project opened in September 2024, runs experiments on the same data feeds. Both operate inside the City of Brussels boundaries and draw on the same sensor grid that covers the 19 municipalities.
Concrete spending and targets
One clear budget line shows the scale. The strategy allocates €50 million over five years to smart traffic systems, including adaptive lights and real-time sensors. City documents state the goal is a 15 percent cut in average commute times and a 20 percent drop in CO2 emissions by the end of 2026. Those figures appear in the published roadmap and the mobility section of the official strategy page.
City staff continue to add data layers to the Digital Twin and to expand the BRUCE app. Residents who want to see the next steps can visit the project listings at smartcity.brussel.be or the City of Brussels strategy page for the latest sensor roll-outs and pilot results.