The AntifragiCity ontology: a semantic foundation for urban mobility
How do we create a shared language for antifragile urban mobility research? Through a comprehensive ontology.
The AntifragiCity Ontology provides a semantic foundation for modelling antifragile, equitable, and data-intensive urban mobility systems. Building on structured requirements and concepts from project documentation and stakeholder inputs, the ontology formalises key entities, processes, events, states, and indicators related to disruptions, responses, socio-technical systems, governance, equity, and long-term learning.
A 12-class meta-model provides a stable upper structure, instantiated through modular components covering transport networks, social and equity aspects, environmental and climate stressors, governance and policy instruments, observations and KPIs, data provenance, and antifragility dynamics. Specified in OWL and designed for deployment as a knowledge graph, the ontology integrates with digital twins, multi-agent systems, and AI analytics.
Instantiation guidelines and illustrative use cases are provided for the pilot cities of Bratislava, Larissa, Odesa, and Thessaloniki.
(Pending approval from the European Commission)
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AntifragiCity is a Horizon Europe project rethinking urban mobility across Europe. Bringing together 13 partners in 8 countries, we are designing systems that don’t just recover, but adapt, improve, and grow stronger through disruption.
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Publication: The fragile nature of road transportation networks
Why do traffic disruptions have such extreme effects on urban mobility? Road transportation networks are fundamentally fragile. Our new publication provides a rigorous mathematical proof of the fragility of road transportation networks, demonstrating that performance loss increases exponentially as disruptions grow linearly in magnitude.
Major cities worldwide experience problems with the performance of their road transportation networks, and the continuous increase in traffic demand presents a substantial challenge to the optimal operation of urban road networks and the efficiency of traffic control strategies.
Based on established traffic flow theory, specifically the Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram (MFD), the study conducts a rigorous mathematical analysis to theoretically prove the fragile nature of road transportation systems. The research proposes a skewness-based indicator that can be readily applied to cross-compare the degree of fragility for different networks, based on MFD-related parameters.
A numerical simulation calibrated with real-world network data bridges the gap between theoretical proof and practical operations, with results showing the reinforcing effect of higher-order statistics and stochasticity on network fragility.
This work demonstrates the fragility of road transportation networks and guides researchers toward adopting antifragile design methods for future networks and traffic control strategies, a key objective of AntifragiCity.
*Published in Transportation Research Part B: Methodological. Elsevier Ltd.
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Visit our publications page to discover our full range of research, tools, and insights shaping the future of antifragile urban mobility across Europe.
AntifragiCity is a Horizon Europe project rethinking urban mobility across Europe. Bringing together 13 partners in 8 countries, we are designing systems that don’t just recover, but adapt, improve, and grow stronger through disruption.
For more updates on AntifragiCity, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn, Bluesky, X, Facebook, and YouTube.
AntifragiCity holds its 1st General Assembly in Bratislava
On 10-11 December 2025, the AntifragiCity consortium gathered in Bratislava for its 1st General Assembly, hosted at TU-BA, Bratislava’s Centre for Architecture and City Planning. Over two days, partners from across Europe came together to review progress since the project’s launch in May 2025, align on ongoing work, and plan the next steps in our shared mission: helping cities move beyond resilience towards truly antifragile urban mobility systems.
The meeting marked an important milestone for AntifragiCity, bringing together perspectives on research, technical development, social innovation, and implementation in one place.
Two days of collaboration, alignment, and planning
On the first day, we focused on reviewing our progress and next steps across three key areas:
- Event analysis and framework development, led by Cardiff University, setting the basis for how disruptions in urban mobility systems are understood.
- Mobility triage and short-term responses, coordinated by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, exploring how cities can prioritise mobility needs and manage transport systems under stress.
- Long-term improvements in antifragile traffic control in urban road networks, led by ETH Zürich, highlighting approaches that allow systems not only to recover from disruption, but to improve because of it.
On the second day, we shifted our focus towards implementation, validation, and real-world impact:
- Rhoé shared progress on the simulator for urban mobility antifragility, a tool designed to help cities understand and strengthen the antifragility of their mobility systems.
- The Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) led discussions on case study validation and public acceptance, outlining how we will test our approaches in real-world contexts and incorporate citizens’ perspectives we will gather through our Citizens' Forums.
- The Institute of Entrepreneurship Development (iED) facilitated a session on the pathway to market, aligning objectives, responsibilities, and milestones to ensure our results can be translated into practical and scalable solutions.
- AUSTRALO presented updates on outreach and awareness, reviewing our communication strategy and upcoming activities to keep our audiences informed and engaged.
- The meeting concluded with a financial and administrative overview from Cardiff University, aligning us on deliverables, timelines, and coordination for the months ahead.
Reflecting on our progress and looking ahead
Reflecting on our progress so far, our coordinator, Yacine Rezgui, highlighted the importance of close collaboration with our pilot cities:
"This year has been marked by constructive dialogue with our cities: Bratislava, Larissa, Odessa, and Thessaloniki, driven by a shared commitment to advancing more sustainable, inclusive, and antifragile mobility in complex urban systems. Together, we have taken meaningful steps toward understanding how cities can not only withstand disruption, but also learn, adapt, and grow stronger through informed short, and long-term change."
He also emphasised the significant progress we have already made, including on:
- Urban event mapping, establishing a structured approach to identifying, categorising, and analysing urban events and disturbances across environmental, social, economic, and infrastructural dimensions.
- Urban states of equilibrium, defining baseline urban conditions and dynamic equilibrium states against which disruption, adaptation, and transformation can be meaningfully assessed.
This General Assembly provided a great opportunity to align on key activities, strengthen collaboration across our team, and ensure a shared understanding of our work’s direction. We left Bratislava energised, connected, and ready for the next phase of AntifragiCity.
Thank you to all AntifragiCity partners, and to the Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava for hosting us at their new venue!
Take a look at the meeting recap video and pictures below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4057eVD8c6Q
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Establishing urban states of equilibrium for antifragile mobility
How do we measure whether urban mobility systems are moving towards antifragility? By establishing clear states of equilibrium.
Urban mobility systems are increasingly exposed to recurrent and compound disruptions that degrade performance and undermine equity. This deliverable develops a theoretical equilibrium framework for antifragile urban mobility, comprising two complementary components: a strategic Target-Setting Model that estimates a time-varying antifragility factor, and a three-layer operational equilibrium that couples traffic assignment and modal choice with infrastructure and service response.
The framework provides well-specified algorithms and assumptions to support sensitivity analysis and policy design for antifragile, equitable, and efficient urban mobility.
(Pending approval from the European Commission)
Explore more AntifragiCity deliverables
Visit our deliverables page to discover our full range of research, tools, and insights.
AntifragiCity is a Horizon Europe project rethinking urban mobility across Europe. Bringing together 13 partners in 8 countries, we are designing systems that don’t just recover, but adapt, improve, and grow stronger through disruption.
For more updates on AntifragiCity, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn, Bluesky, X, Facebook, and YouTube.
Mapping urban disruptions across Europe: new deliverable from AntifragiCity
What disruptions do European cities face, and how often? A new pan-European mapping provides answers.
AntifragiCity's Urban Event Mapping deliverable presents comprehensive research on urban disruptions across Europe, incorporating data from our pilot sites in Odesa, Bratislava, Larissa, and Thessaloniki within a wider continental dataset.
The research uses a two-axis taxonomy covering event domain (transport, environment/weather, utilities/connectivity, and public space/social) and scale (daily, mid-scale, large-scale). The methodology integrates primary data from a multilingual survey of 140 respondents across 15 European countries, systematic literature review, EM-DAT disaster records, Copernicus satellite data, and social media analytics.
Key findings reveal that transport-related disruptions dominate the European risk landscape, with road works and public transport delays affecting over 60% of respondents. The resulting event catalogue and taxonomy provide a baseline for designing antifragile strategies and developing tools to help cities respond more effectively to disruption.
(Pending approval from the European Commission)
Explore more AntifragiCity deliverables
Visit our deliverables page to discover our full range of research, tools, and insights.
AntifragiCity is a Horizon Europe project rethinking urban mobility across Europe. Bringing together 13 partners in 8 countries, we are designing systems that don’t just recover, but adapt, improve, and grow stronger through disruption.
For more updates on AntifragiCity, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn, Bluesky, X, Facebook, and YouTube.
AntifragiCity shares plans for dissemination, communication and engagement
How do we ensure that our research on antifragile urban mobility reaches the people who can use it? Through clear, strategic communication and meaningful engagement.
At AntifragiCity, we have developed a comprehensive plan for dissemination, communication, and engagement, designed to maximise the project's impact and outreach.
This document provides a detailed overview of the project's strategies and tools, including target audiences and their segments. It also describes AntifragiCity's online presence, including the website and social media channels, all designed to connect research with the communities, policymakers, and practitioners who can put it into action.
(Pending approval from the European Commission)
Explore more AntifragiCity deliverables
Visit our deliverables page to discover our full range of research, tools, and insights.
AntifragiCity is a Horizon Europe project rethinking urban mobility across Europe. Bringing together 13 partners in 8 countries, we are designing systems that don’t just recover, but adapt, improve, and grow stronger through disruption.
For more updates on AntifragiCity, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn, Bluesky, X, Facebook, and YouTube.
Presenting our first publication: “AntifragiCity: Advancing Urban Mobility Through Antifragile”
We are proud to announce the publication of AntifragiCity’s first academic paper, “AntifragiCity: Advancing Urban Mobility Through Antifragile”. This milestone marks the beginning of our scientific contribution to rethinking how cities can adapt, learn, and grow stronger in the face of disruption.
The paper outlines our project’s theoretical framework and examines how antifragile principles can improve urban mobility. Instead of simply aiming to recover from crises, the framework proposes methods that help systems become stronger as a result.
Key ideas include:
- Real-time monitoring of urban mobility stressors
- Adaptive decision support and predictive simulation
- Machine learning for continuous system improvement
- Planned validation in Larissa, Odesa, Bratislava, and Thessaloniki (through our pilots)
Our expected outcomes include reduced accident rates, improved resilience, and stronger citizen engagement in mobility planning.
The paper is co-authored by Yacine Rezgui, Ali Ghoroghi, Evangelos Manthos, Theocharis Vlachopanagiotis, and Afrouz Ghaemi.
Paper presented at ICE Conference 2025
Our coordinator, Yacine Rezgui, Professor of Urban Intelligence at Cardiff University’s School of Engineering and Co-founder of Optimise-AI, presented this publication during the International Conference on Engineering, Technology, and Innovation (ICE) 2025, held on 16–19 June in Valencia, Spain.
The ICE Conference is a leading international forum exploring how digital technologies transform engineering, innovation, and society. By bringing together academia and industry, ICE enables participants to exchange knowledge, share best practices, and discuss how technology is shaping the future.
The paper was introduced in the session “Urban digital and ecological transformation – an IT-engineering perspective”, chaired by Alain Zarli and Dieter Uckelmann. Professor Rezgui also shared the broader vision of AntifragiCity: building urban mobility systems that not only withstand disruptions but also adapt, learn, and improve through them.
We are proud to see our project represented among leading voices in smart and sustainable urban innovation!
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The AntifragiCity logo: A symbol of antifragility
We are excited to unveil our official logo, designed to reflect the values at the core of our work: antifragility, adaptability, and the capacity (of cities and mobility systems) to grow stronger through disruption.
The logo represents:
- A black swan event breaking the core of a city
- A path that adapts, redirecting toward recovery
- A curved roadline, referencing urban mobility
- A lowercase letter "a", a nod to our project’s name
- A bold magenta hue, evoking alertness and emergency response
This design was the favourite among our partners, who voted from five different options. Thanks to everyone who took part, and big thanks as well to the team that created our previous identity.
Download the AntifragiCity logo
Check our our Brand Book to learn the dos and don'ts of the logo usage.
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Introducing the AntifragiCity Brand Book
At AntifragiCity, we believe in the power of clear, compelling communication, and that starts with a strong, coherent identity. We’re excited to share the official AntifragiCity Brand Book, a practical guide that captures the essence of who we are and how we present ourselves to the world.
This resource outlines our mission, vision, target audiences, and tone of voice. It also defines our visual identity and provides practical guidance on using key elements, including our logo, colour palette, and typography.
Whether you are a designer, communicator, or simply curious about our work, this document ensures that every touchpoint reflects AntifragiCity’s spirit: bold, inclusive, forward-thinking, and solution-oriented.
It will guide our communication efforts, helping partners, stakeholders, and collaborators share our story consistently and clearly.
If you are working with us or featuring the project on your channels, we encourage you to use our Brand Book to ensure aligned, effective communication.
Download the AntifragiCity Brand Book
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AntifragiCity launches to build smarter, stronger urban mobility systems
AntifragiCity has officially launched! Funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme, this ambitious €4 million project is rethinking how cities respond to disruption — helping them move beyond resilience to become truly antifragile.
Cities today face a growing range of disruptions — from extreme weather and infrastructure failures to digital breakdowns. While most urban systems aim to resist shocks, AntifragiCity explores a different approach: enabling cities to adapt, transform, and improve when confronted with the unexpected.
For 36 months, 13 partners from across Europe will work together to develop and test tools, models, and strategies for more adaptive urban mobility. The goal? To create systems that don’t just bounce back from disruptions, but improve as a result of them.
The project will be piloted in four cities — Larissa (Greece), Odesa (Ukraine), Bratislava (Slovakia), and Thessaloniki (Greece) — allowing the team to experiment with antifragile mobility solutions in real-world conditions. These pilots will guide the development of more inclusive, responsive, and sustainable urban transport environments throughout Europe.
At the heart of AntifragiCity is the idea that traditional resilience strategies are no longer enough. As Yacine Rezgui, the project’s coordinator, explains:
"In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the energy crisis, and an ongoing war in Europe, cities are facing unprecedented challenges. AntifragiCity is about harnessing these disruptions as catalysts for positive change, building urban systems that adapt, learn, and emerge stronger. By integrating technology with local knowledge and citizen participation, we aim to pave the way to sustainable cities that are not only resilient but truly antifragile".
Coordinated by Cardiff University, the project brings together a multidisciplinary team comprising municipalities, research institutions, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and innovation labs. This consortium reflects a unique balance of academic excellence, practical urban expertise, and industry knowledge.
The official kick-off meeting took place on 14-15 May 2025 in Thessaloniki, hosted by Greek mobility company Rhoé.
Read AntifragiCity’s first press release
For press and collaboration enquiries, contact: antifragicity@australo.org