+Colonia

+Colonia - Creating a Smart and Sustainable City

The +Colonia initiative represents an ambitious and pioneering venture in urban development: the creation of a 515-hectare smart sustainable city from the ground up, strategically located adjacent to the historic port of Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. With an estimated investment of approximately US$2 billion, and an initial phase of US$100 million for the foundational "Genesis" district, the project aims to become a beacon of innovation and sustainable living in Latin America and transform the region into a technology and Innovation Hub for Latin America.

The development is designed to house in its initial phase 15,000 to 20,000 people and create thousands of new jobs in the knowledge economy, with a land use allocation of approximately 70% for housing and 30% for businesses. The vision for +Colonia is twofold. On one hand to establish a "Silicon Valley of Latin America," attracting global technology firms and talent while fostering local entrepreneurship. On the other hand, taking advantage of the proximity to the metropolis Buenos Aires to create a “City of Two Shores”. This vision is built on a foundation of environmental sustainability, with a commitment to preserving and integrating the local natural landscape, achieving carbon neutrality, and enhancing the quality of life through thoughtful, human-centric urban design.

Development into a leading smart and sustainable city

Fraunhofer IAO guided the definition of the strategic vision of +Colonia based on the project premise and a forward-looking approach. As such +Colonia will be Latin America's premier smart sustainable city—a thriving hub of innovation, sustainability, and human flourishing where technology serves people, not the other way around.

The main research questions explored in this project were around the unique public-private development model.

Integration and Standardization: How can the new, cutting-edge infrastructure built by +Colonia be designed to seamlessly integrate with the existing systems and operational protocols of the national providers?
Innovation vs. Incumbency: How can the project push the boundaries of smart infrastructure and technology when the long-term operators may have established, more conventional practices?
Governance and Collaboration: What governance models and collaborative frameworks are needed to ensure smooth coordination between the private developer, the national utilities, and the local municipality throughout the planning, construction, and handover phases?

Coherent, measurable, and principle-based

To bring +Colonia’s vision to life, Fraunhofer IAO guided a collaborative process with local stakeholders and based on that proposed an implementation framework rooted in the project's core principles. The framework organizes the city’s development into key urban layers, such as urban fabric, mobility, energy, buildings, digital infrastructure, and public services. For each layer, hierarchy of actions has been defined—foundational, enabling, and impact-oriented—that guide how systems should be initiated, scaled, and optimized over time. Every action is linked to a dedicated set of KPIs that enable monitoring, accountability, and adaptive learning. Together, this framework ensures a coherent, measurable, and principle-aligned path from concept to execution across all aspects of city development.

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Mobility strategy

+Colonia is aiming to implement a comprehensive, multimodal mobility system that prioritizes active transportation, shared mobility, and public transit while leveraging emerging technologies to create seamless, efficient, and sustainable movement of people and goods. This system will minimize environmental impact, maximize accessibility, and create vibrant, people-centered urban spaces that enhance quality of life and economic vitality. A car-reduced urban environment is a central pillar of a sustainable smart city, prioritizing pedestrian-friendly design, cycling infrastructure, efficient public transportation, and shared mobility services over private car ownership and use. The mobility strategy must seamlessly integrate the new development with key existing nodes like the Colonia del Sacramento ferry terminal and the historic city itself, ensuring convenient and eco-friendly travel options for residents and visitors.

The mobility-oriented development aims to create compact, mixed-use neighborhoods where daily needs are easily accessible. Key elements include transit-oriented development with density and mixed use based around transit nodes, walkable neighborhoods defined by fine-grained street networks and pedestrian priority, the 15-minute city concept ensuring essential services within a short walk, car-light districts with minimal private vehicle presence, mobility hub integration around multimodal connection points, active frontages that enhance street vitality, and a flexible parking strategy that adapts to evolving vehicle storage needs.

traffic simulation

For the traffic simulation, a basic, data-driven approach was applied to estimate trip production and attraction based on the urban fabric of +Colonia. The origin–destination relationships were derived using a generalized distribution assumption. A baseline scenario was defined to represent the current mobility situation as a car-dependent system with strong reliance on private vehicles and significant interaction with external urban centers. Several alternative scenarios were developed to explore potential mobility transitions:

Variations in regional attraction dynamics were tested, modifying how trips are distributed between nearby and more distant destinations under otherwise similar conditions.
A transition towards a more localized, proximity-based urban model was simulated, reducing the need for external trips.
An advanced scenario incorporated shared mobility concepts, leading to a stronger reduction in private vehicle use and corresponding changes in overall traffic patterns and demand distribution.