A team from meteoblue has just returned from Curitiba, where a recent round of meetings with local partners pushed forward one of the most ambitious urban climate projects in South America. Called Smart Climate City, the initiative will utilise the meteoblue urban climate tools to build a city-wide environmental monitoring network across the capital of Paraná, weaving together around 150 meteorological and hydrological sensors so the city can better read, and respond to, a changing climate.
During the visit, the team worked alongside the project partners on the ground and took a first close look at the weather stations that will form the network. METOS Brasil, the local partner, presented a station developed specifically for the project, an early sign of how closely the technology is being fitted to local conditions.
The programme was formalised earlier this year with a Memorandum of Understanding signed on 26 March 2026 during the seventh Smart City Expo Curitiba. It unites meteoblue, the Paraná environmental monitoring agency Simepar, the Civil Defence of Curitiba, and technology partner METOS Brasil, with backing from the State Secretariat for Sustainable Development (SEDEST), and funding approved through the State Environmental Fund.
From a Swiss mission to a Brazilian network
The collaboration traces back to a strategic visit by the leadership of Simepar to Switzerland in 2025. There, the model of the climate-intelligent city, already at work in places such as Zurich, provided the template for what is now taking shape in Paraná. Planned as a three-year programme, Smart Climate City will begin in Curitiba, extend across the metropolitan region, and later reach the city of Toledo in the west of the state.
Reading heat, wind and rain at street level
At the heart of the project, the stations feed high-resolution hydrometeorological models and machine learning systems to pinpoint where urban risk concentrates, whether from heat, heavy rainfall, or rapid airflow. Heat islands and wind corridors are early priorities, alongside real-time readings of wind intensity and rainfall that help map the areas most exposed to flooding.
A lighthouse for South America
For the meteoblue team, the ambition reaches beyond a single city. Curitiba is intended as a lighthouse project: a working demonstration of how science, civil protection, municipalities and technology partners can prepare urban areas for climate extremes, with lessons ready to travel to other cities across the region.
The work draws on the City Climate toolbox for heat island analysis and climate adaptation. The city of Curitiba, which celebrated its 333rd anniversary this year, is betting that a city able to read its own weather is one better prepared for what the climate brings next.
