BUILT CoLAB – Coolspace

Challenge: Porto: How to monitor and improve thermal behaviour and resilience?

Target Group: Local Communities

The CoolScape pilot aimed to enhance urban park resilience by integrating environmental sensing, digital modelling, and community engagement. The project centred on Quinta de Salgueiros, a green space in Porto, and involved the creation of a Building Information Modelling (BIM)-based digital twin, enriched with real-time environmental sensor data and a predictive AI component.

The technical framework combined continuous data collection—covering variables such as temperature, humidity, wind, air quality, and noise—with spatial modelling to support dynamic analysis of environmental conditions within the park. The predictive element uses this data to forecast environmental impacts and inform future urban planning decisions.

Co-creation played a key role in aligning the system with community needs. Two sessions were conducted with local residents, in collaboration with the Environment Department of the Municipality of Porto, the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto, and Domus Social. These sessions gathered residents’ perceptions of environmental quality and compared them with sensor readings, providing both validation and contextual insights to refine the digital model and support participatory design. Approximately 25 people who can be considered representative of the target group participated in co-creation activities.

An online platform was developed to visualise the data and model outputs, allowing for ongoing monitoring and scenario testing. Sensor data continues to be collected and integrated, supporting further refinement of the digital twin and its predictive capabilities.