Smart City Stuttgart – Twelve flagship projects driving digital living standards.
At the end of 2025, the City of Stuttgart published its Smart City Master Plan, setting out its ambition to become one of Germany’s leading smart cities, with Sandra Baumholz and her team leading the development of the strategy paper. In the IT future podcast “Basis 108”, the Head of Strategic Planning, Digital Transformation and Innovation for the City of Stuttgart discusses the challenges of implementation, key flagship initiatives and the factors that drive success.
Ms Baumholz, you and your team are responsible for the City of Stuttgart’s Smart City Master Plan. How did you become involved in this project?
Sandra Baumholz: I enjoy taking on challenges and a little uncertainty too (laughs). When the topic of smart cities first emerged a few years ago, the question was who within the municipal administration would take the lead. Many colleagues were keen to contribute, yet no one wanted to take overall responsibility. Why? Because smart city development impacts the digital transformation of the entire administration, and only the Lord Mayor has the authority to give instructions to all departments and offices. I myself cannot, for example, instruct anyone in the civil engineering department; I can only ask, motivate and inspire, which often complicates project delivery. Even so, I chose to take on the role. In 2022, we set up a Smart City Board made up of volunteers from across the City of Stuttgart and together, we developed a smart city concept in 2023, finalising the Smart City Master Plan in 2025, steadily improving along the way. In the 2023 Smart City Index we ranked eighth, but by 2025 we had reached third place in Germany thanks to the commitment and enthusiasm of so many colleagues.
Can you give examples of projects from this master plan?
I would first like to emphasise the significance of the master plan itself. It provides the framework for the City of Stuttgart’s smart city work and gives us a clear structure for implementing the projects. At its core, it comprises twelve flagship projects along with many smaller smart city initiatives. One example is drone‑based structural monitoring, which enables us to identify and observe issues such as cracks in tunnels and bridges. By using drones, we need far fewer scaffolds or lifting platforms and can carry out inspections on an ongoing basis, saving both time and money.
What else can you tell us about?
Our pedestrian guidance system. When people are, for example, on Schlossplatz, they can connect to a digital pillar to access information on their smartphone. It provides event listings and information about the city’s main sights, so visitors can quickly check what is on at the theatre, book tickets and plan their public transport connections. The system offers real‑time planning and directly supports our goal of creating a liveable, connected and innovative city. We also made use of the feedback we collected from residents in spring 2025, meaning the master plan reflects the priorities of both the administration and the wider community.
Your projects require a great deal of data, which naturally raises questions about data protection. How do you approach this?
With the utmost care. We apply the principle of data minimisation, meaning we only collect the data we truly need, and whenever personal data is involved, we always involve our data‑protection specialists. Take traffic monitoring, for example. It is completely irrelevant whether Ms Müller or Mr Maier is sitting in the car; what matters is simply the number of vehicles on the road at specific times, so that is all we record.
Does the same apply to the AI‑supported chatbot on the city’s website?
Absolutely. Users are informed that AI is being used and are asked not to enter any sensitive information, which in most cases is not required anyway.
You also serve as the City’s Chief AI Officer. Where does Stuttgart use AI?
AI is an important topic for us, which is why we adopted an AI strategy in July 2025. For me, what matters is that AI is used where there is a clear need and always in full compliance with the law. Our use cases are well defined—we want to improve services for residents, increase administrative efficiency and enable data‑driven decision‑making. Departments often approach our digital transformation team with a specific challenge, and together we look for a suitable solution—with or without AI, as both can be effective. The chatbot is certainly one of the success stories, and we also use AI productively in software development with GitHub Copilot as well as in our housing‑benefit bot, where it helps us process applications far more quickly.
How does it work?
The Department of Social Affairs and Inclusion receives a large number of housing‑benefit applications, many of which we were not able to process quickly enough. Since November 2025, AI has been carrying out an initial review, for example checking whether applications are complete. It also speeds up research, as colleagues can query legislation and the AI drafts emails or notices, meaning staff often only need to review and approve the final documents.
Are there limits to what AI can do?
Yes. Our early experience shows that AI can struggle with more complex cases and that its answers are not always reliable. That is why we treat it strictly as a support tool rather than something that makes decisions; the final responsibility always rests with our staff. Every application goes through a proof of concept, and we only introduce systems across the city once they have clearly proven themselves in practice.
You mentioned earlier that, given the city’s structures, you often rely on persuasion. How do you manage projects of this scale under those conditions?
It is one of the biggest challenges for any municipality. Our first digitalisation strategy from 2019 looked strong on paper, yet the practical implementation showed clear room for improvement, which is why we established a project portfolio management system. This now consolidates all smart city projects, provides regular reporting and gives us a high degree of transparency. We also plan to launch a smart city dashboard this year, giving us an even sharper view of our flagship projects so that we can spot issues early and act quickly. A key body in this process is the Smart City Board, which meets quarterly for in‑depth discussion. City‑wide coordination sits with my team, and two exceptionally committed colleagues focus on this topic full‑time. With this combination of tools and people, I am confident that we can deliver the City of Stuttgart’s Smart City Master Plan both swiftly and successfully.
What do you see as the key factor for success?
I did not come from an IT background and initially wondered whether I was the right person for the role, yet a colleague once told me something that has stayed with me: “Sandra, we can always make the technology work. The real task will be inspiring people.” I still believe he was right. Collaboration, trust, courage and openness are, in my view, the foundations of success.
Which project currently tops your agenda?
My favourite project at the moment is our internal GPT. We want our colleagues to be able to use AI for their day‑to‑day work and, in time, also for handling confidential information. The idea is that the AI can draft concepts, write emails, produce summaries, give feedback and support brainstorming as a creative partner—all within a framework that ensures full legal compliance and digital sovereignty.
About.
Since 2022, Sandra Baumholz has headed the unit for Strategic Planning, Digital Transformation and Innovation and, since September 2025, she has also served as Chief AI Officer for the City of Stuttgart. Before taking on this role, she spent four years as adviser to the Deputy Mayor. Together with the colleagues in her unit, she played a key role in developing the City of Stuttgart’s Smart City Master Plan, which forms part of the city‑wide digitalisation strategy Digital MoveS. She is also responsible for coordinating all AI‑related activities across the administration. The state capital has published its own AI strategy, established an AI hub and, working closely with municipal departments, implemented numerous AI projects.
Smart City Master Plan.
The City of Stuttgart’s Smart City Master Plan was published in November 2025. It turns the goals of the Digital MoveS digitalisation strategy into practical steps and sets out a clear framework for developing and implementing smart solutions across the city. The plan was created through extensive engagement with residents and in collaboration with partners including Bechtle. Its aim is to make Stuttgart more liveable, sustainable and efficient. In 2025, Stuttgart made it onto the Bitkom Smart City Index podium for the first time, securing third place.