Instant AI Urban Climate Modelling and LEGO®

The project Instant AI Urban Climate Modelling and LEGO®, initiated by Prof. Dr. Lesley De Cruz and developed together with her dedicated research team, was recognized with the 2026 EMS Outreach and Communication Award:

This outstanding initiative successfully bridges complex meteorological science and public outreach, making the invisible dynamics of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect both tangible and actionable for audiences of all ages.

Traditional climate communication can often feel abstract to the general public. This award-winning workshop flips the script by turning climate education into a hands-on, playful, and deeply scientific experience. The project enables diverse audiences to explore and understand sustainable urban design through a creative process that combines familiar building blocks with real-time AI modelling.

Three examples of cities built with LEGO blocks by participants of the urban climate game, who" planted" trees and added parks and green roofs to cool their cities during hot summer nights. (photo: Firass Kooli, license CC-BY 4.0 )
Three examples of cities built with LEGO blocks by participants of the urban climate game (photo: Firass Kooli, license CC-BY 4.0 )

The workshop flow relies on a simple yet effective interactive cycle:

  • Build: Participants use familiar LEGO bricks to design and build their own micro-cities, representing different land-use choices like roads, buildings, water features, and vegetation.
  • Scan: The physical LEGO model is placed inside a custom-built Temperature Booth, where it is scanned and translated into a digitized map.
  • Simulate: An onboard, specialized AI-based urban climate model instantly processes the land-cover data to generate a localized temperature map.
  • Analyze & Redesign: Participants immediately see how their architectural choices directly impact local heat patterns. They are then encouraged to experimen – such as substituting a parking lot with a park – and witness how the AI-driven heat map shifts in real time.

By focusing on the evening and night-time heat-retention characteristics of cities, the workshop provides non-expert audiences and children (especially from age 7 onwards) with an intuitive understanding of urban planning and climate resilience.

The project’s success is driven by a multidisciplinary team bridging urban climate science, meteorology, artificial intelligence, and education:

TheWorkshop team (left to right) :Lesley De Cruz, Sara Top, Firass Kooli, Geert De Paepe, Andrei Covaci (photo by L. De Cruz; license: CC-BY 4.0)
  • Prof. Dr. Lesley De Cruz (Vrije Universiteit Brussel / Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium) – Project initiator, supervisor, and funding lead.
  • MSc Andrei Covaci (VUB / RMIB) – PhD researcher who spearheaded the development of the AI-based temperature model.
  • MSc Firass Kooli (VUB) – Designed and constructed the initial physical “Temperature Booth”.
  • MSc Geert De Paepe (Karel de Grote University of Applied Sciences and Arts / VUB) – Enhanced the user interface and managed public demonstrations.
  • Dr. Sara Top (Ghent University) – Contributed core scientific expertise in urban climate modeling and outreach.
4 people in a row, one holding a trophy, one a LEGO game, one an awards certificate.
Team members of the project Instant AI Urban Climate Modelling and LEGO® receiving the award at the EMS2026 Awards Session in Utreecht left to right): Geert De Paepe, Andrei Covaci and Lesley de Cruz; right: Tanja Cegnar, chair EMS Media & Communication Committee