EU-funded researchers are using AI to help ease the flow in Europe’s cities, making urban environments both safer and greener.
At the Las Matas train station in the town of Las Rozas, just north of the Spanish capital Madrid, life is going on as usual. The sound of a highway can be heard in the background as a train pulls in. On the roundabout in front of the station, a churros vendor is selling his wares as pedestrians navigate the busy intersection. It all seems like an ordinary scene in suburban Spain.
Unseen by passers-by, however, smart cameras are quietly observing and analysing pedestrian and traffic flows to understand how the space is being used – and how it could be used better. On this regular city roundabout, the future of urbanism is being sketched out.
User-friendly city planning
Las Rozas is one of the testing grounds for the researchers of an EU-funded initiative called AMIGOS that is using new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and data analysis to help improve the quality of life in busy cities.
In this, it is closely aligned with the EU’s Cities Mission which aims to support 112 European cities in becoming climate-neutral and smart by 2030, serving as innovation hubs for sustainable urban transformation.
The cameras used by the AMIGOS team were designed by the Austrian Institute of Technology and rely on AI. This allows them to rapidly process months’ worth of camera footage and build up an accurate picture of how city spaces are being used. The information collected can help city planners redesign public spaces with real people in mind.
“This project is about the really basic questions that every citizen asks themselves. Questions like ‘can I let my children go to school safely on their own’,” said Martin Krekeler, who works with the Senate Chancellery of the City of Hamburg, Germany, and coordinates the AMIGOS team.