An OGC standards-based Urban Digital Twin platform supporting co-creation of Positive Energy Districts: Case study of the Nordbahnhof district in Stuttgart, Germany

Abstract. Urban Digital Twins (UDTs) are increasingly recognized as enablers of evidence-based planning and citizen engagement. While the involvement of civil society in planning the built environment is well established, its role and motivation in advancing the clean energy transition remain largely unexplored. This paper presents the development and application of an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards-based UDT platform for the co-creation of Positive Energy Districts (PEDs), as demonstrated through the Nordbahnhof district case study in Stuttgart. The platform integrates interoperable 3D city and energy data using CityGML 2.0 with its Energy ADE 3.0 extension, both compliant with OGC standards to ensure semantic consistency and cross-domain interoperability. SimStadt energy simulation results are stored in the Energy ADE schema within PostgreSQL/3DCityDB database. These data are published through an OGC Web Feature Service (WFS), while 3D city geometries are served as 3D Tiles. In the CesiumJS web-viewer, both services are linked via GML identifiers, enabling coordinated interaction between geometry and energy data for real-time visualization of the district-scale energy balance. The platform was tested with citizens, who learned about load profiles, photovoltaic (PV) potential, and energy efficiency while acting as “district energy planners.” Their responses/willingness to adopt PV and/or modify energy-use behavior were translated into slider inputs to visualize real-time energy-balance outcomes through the platform. Results demonstrate the potential of interoperable, OGC-compliant UDTs to connect data providers, planners, and citizens in a shared decision-support environment. The architecture’s open, modular design enables wider replication, promoting scalability and long-term municipal adoption for participatory energy-transition planning.