METACITY is dedicated to empowering small and mid-sized tech-aware cities by harnessing the potential of metaverse technologies. This initiative aims to elevate the competitiveness of these cities by optimizing service efficiency and enhancing overall citizen satisfaction. Through the integration of metaverse capabilities, these cities can craft immersive digital landscapes spanning education, healthcare, tourism, and public services. This integration fosters seamless communication, remote accessibility to services, and personalized user experiences, thereby bridging the gap between these cities and their larger counterparts. Such metaverse-driven urban planning not only drives innovation and economic growth but also ensures that residents have access to state-of-the-art solutions, ultimately elevating their quality of life. METACITY further serves as a pivotal platform linking the digital and IoT endeavors of partnering cities with their ambition to rival major urban centers in service quality and talent allure. By providing a unique test-bed for local authorities to actively shape metaverse design, regulation, and utilization for the greater good, METACITY aligns with the strategic objectives of the EC's Digital and Urban Agendas. Moreover, it garners support from academic and research partners both within the network and in the local context, facilitating a comprehensive and collaborative approach towards realizing these transformative goals.
In this way, this network will for the first time in Europe aggregate the efforts and planning of local authorities and research centres for:
- Evaluation, with local stakeholders, of the most suited public services and cultural/social offers to be made available in the metaverse, and how to further engage citizens to take full profit of them
- Assessment, with support from local technology and knowledge providers as well as civil society, of the challenges and barriers – technological, legal, economical or social – to a full virtualisation of services
- Benchmarking existent solutions as digital twins for specific parts of the city, as a first step towards a greater metaverse presence
- Developing Integrated Action Plans for an extended use of the metaverse and AI tools for urban development and enhanced citizen interaction.
