Rotterdam Pilots AI for Public Space Analysis
Rotterdam is now piloting AI applications for managing public space, drawing inspiration from the Japanese RoJo (Roadway Observation) Society. The initiative uses AI-powered mapping to analyze overlooked urban elements, aiming to blend computational analysis with community-based observation to inform design and policy.
The Japanese RoJo Society (路上観察学会), or Roadway Observation Society, was formed in 1986 by figures including architectural historian Terunobu Fujimori and artist Genpei Akasegawa. Its practice involves walking tours to discover and document overlooked or unintentionally altered urban elements, such as oddly shaped mailboxes or trees growing through fences, shifting focus away from traditionally beautiful design. This AI initiative is part of Rotterdam's broader digital transformation, which is anchored by its Digital Twin project on an Open Urban Platform (OUP). The platform integrates real-time 3D data from municipal sources and private partners—including housing organisation Woonstad Rotterdam and emergency services—to improve urban planning and response times while ensuring public oversight of digital infrastructure. The city's long-term vision is the "Rotterdam Citiverse," a concept intended to seamlessly integrate the city's physical, digital, and social environments. This framework is explicitly designed around public values such as digital sovereignty, open standards, and citizen participation as a counter-model to privately controlled, commercially driven metaverses. Across the Netherlands, municipalities are advancing AI applications, from The Hague's use of image recognition for harbor management to Eindhoven'
