Chania, Greece
The City
Chania is located in the crossroads of civilizations, full of natural beauties, unique tradition and architecture. Built on the location of the ancient Minoan settlement of “Kydonia”, the city occupies an area of 11 sq km with a population just over 50.000 inhabitants, making Chania the second largest city in Crete. The old Venetian port with its Egyptian Lighthouse is one of the city’s most iconic features, while the gulf of Souda to the north is the largest natural harbor in the Mediterranean Sea. Its unspoiled landscapes and cultural identity have lately rendered the city as one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.
The Pilot: Creation of a Mobile Urban Living Room in open public spaces
Public spaces in Chania have been upgraded to both bring nature to the citizens, and citizens to nature. A mobile urban living room was designed as a flexible multifunctional pilot, to increase the accessibility and use of public spaces and improve citizens’ health and well-being.
Convertible furniture were digitized by making them part of the Internet of Things (IoT). Their position and use are monitored, allowing the citizens to interact both with the urban space and VARCITIES via mobile apps and games.
With the ability to offer high-quality services and multifunctionality, the pilot is designed to host different activities.
Sensors on public bikes and bike-stations combined with weather station data, prediction models and bike sharing systems usage data are also employed to create a healthy city.
Discover the Pilot!
The Visionary Solutions
VS 1 saw the development of a Mobile Urban Living Room or MULαR, a portable, multifunctional and convertible construction, which will be set up in different areas of the city. Its goal is to redefine citizens’ relationship with public space and nature. Acting as a meeting point, MULαR aims to encourage citizens to engage in various social and cultural activities, increasing the green spaces’ value. MULαR gathers data on urban environmental conditions and citizens’ health and well-being to assess the current state of green spaces and propose strategies for future improvement. Citizens can interact with the solutions through mobile apps and games. Based on stakeholders’ feedback MULαR will be set up in several locations, including natural-green areas: the Municipal Garden and the Peace & Friendship Park, Agioi Apostoloi park/forest, small wetlands (e.g. the outfall of Kladissos river, close to Natura 2000 sites), Public Squares (e.g. Souda Square, Chalepa Square, etc.), Schoolyards and Neighborhoods. In concertation with stakeholders, five main categories of activities were identified: educational activities, social activities, information and awareness actions, cultural activities and promotional activities.
VS2 supported the deployment of CYCLOPOLIS mobile sensor kits on both public (Chania’s bike-sharing system) and private bicycles. Public bike stations are now equipped with CYCLOPOLIS stationary sensors to monitor pollutants (PMx, noise, humidity, etc.), while health data is collected via smart grips with integrated oximeters. This information is further enriched with data from weather stations, bike-sharing usage statistics, user questionnaires, mobile apps, and national statistical sources. All data is geolocated to identify pollution hotspots and related health patterns, enabling the city to provide real-time environmental alerts to both residents and visitors. The aim of this Visionary Solution is to improve air quality and reduce noise by discouraging movement through highly polluted areas, enhance the health and wellbeing of citizens and visitors, and help lower healthcare costs. It also seeks to reduce environmental disparities by providing vulnerable groups—such as cyclists, pedestrians, children, and the elderly—with timely information on pollution levels, thereby protecting them from hazardous conditions. In doing so, the solution promotes social equity and raises awareness of areas with good air quality.
VARCITIES H&WB Platform acts as a bridge connecting the tangible reality of Chania with its digital twins, offering users a seamless, user-friendly experience to access time-series environmental data through interactive dashboards and insightful 3D renders.
Explore the dynamic transformation of our Pilot site in Novo Mesto and embark on a transformative eco-gaming experience with VARCITIES GoNature Game with full AR/VR 3-D render!
