Nuremberg relies on digital urban development: 3D model fascinates citizens!

Nuremberg relies on digital urban development: 3D model fascinates citizens!

On January 14, 2025, the city of Nuremberg published an innovative, digital 3D city model online. This model depicts the entire city landscape and is available for citizens, city planners, architects and interested parties. Thanks to the planning support functions, the 3D model enables interactive exploration of the city by virtually moving through Nuremberg and looking at buildings from different perspectives. Andrea Heilmaier, the city's economic and science officer, emphasizes that the model lifts the experience of urban development to a new level. The creation of the model was responsible for the Office for Geoinformation and Land Order, based on aerial photographs that were obtained in April 2024. According to municipality21.de , the 3D city model is continuously expanded.

In times of digitization, however, the relevance of the classic urban model construction is increasingly being questioned. While digital twins offer many advantages in the planning, it can be seen that real models can better illustrate some essential aspects through their physical presence and detail. The spatial relationships, eaves heights and visual axes often appear more urgent in an analog model than in idealized digital representations. In particular, real models enable the viewers to take different perspectives and physically experience the city landscape. These characteristics are crucial to communicate and check urban qualities, since they serve as a test bench for urban designs, as nuernberg.de There are currently three relevant city models in Nuremberg that not only represent historical elements of the old town, but also support current plans.

The development of the city models in Nuremberg

Nuremberg's oldest city model, dated 1540, is located in the Kaiserburg Museum. Another model from 1939, which also shows the old town, is kept in the Fembohaus city museum. There is currently an old town model in a scale of 1: 500, which consists of twelve plasterboard and is used as an illustrative tool in the architectural advisory board. There is also a total of 1: 1000 scale, which has not yet been fully carried out. The urban planning office monitors the development of current quarters or individual planning using these models and thereby achieves valuable feedback on urban design.

However, the advantages of digital models are not contested. These enable more precise planning and simulation of urban designs. According to urban-digital.de , digital twins can optimize use of space, increase security and increase efficiency. Especially in urban infrastructures such as railway and subway stations or shopping centers, you can offer valuable insights in terms of pedestrian traffic and crowd forms. The goal of many of these digital approaches is to improve walking and security in the city and to optimize the finding.

Overall, it can be seen that both digital and analog city models have their specific advantages that can be combined sensibly in urban planning. Nuremberg takes another step into the future of urban development with its new digital 3D model.