Green urban infrastructure spend to reach $978bn by 2030

However, the report finds green urban infrastructure offers many additional benefits:

• a key tool for urban decarbonisation, contribution to net zero cities, and achieving urban circularity
• improved air quality and reduced noise pollution
• increased urban biodiversity – “bringing nature back to cities”
• improved urban living quality, health, and mental wellbeing
• positive impact on economic development.

From a technology perspective, digital twins are the ultimate tool for city governments and developers to design, model, plan, simulate, and manage green urban infrastructure.

Detailed information about trees and other green assets can be captured through ground-based and airborne lidar sensor scanning systems often complemented by satellite imagery. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based recognition capabilities allow building complex models featuring various metrics, including predictive data about expected tree lifetimes.

“The single most important benefit of green urban infrastructure is its role in making cities more resilient”

Digital twin modelling and simulation use cases include the identification of current and future heat islands, the assessment of vulnerable populations, the percentage of permeable surface and vegetation levels, the water retention potential of green rooftops, detailed tree analytics, and water run-off and carbon storage metrics.

Urban digital twin solutions are offered by vendors like Siradel (Engie) and Dassault Systèmes, Singapore-based Greehill develops digital twin technology exclusively optimised for green infrastructure.

ABI Research’s Green Urban Infrastructure report is part of the company’s Smart Urban Infrastructure research service, which includes research, data, and analyst insights.