Author | Amaia PorteiroCities are complex labyrinths of activities, habitats, resources and interests, reflected in an urban planning that is becoming increasingly complex as time goes by. There is also more digital data available, which could help us improve decision making. But, how should we manage that enormous amount of information? And how should we bring together the virtual world and the physical world to design the efficient and sustainable cities we need?The answer may lie in digital twins, a concept that has existed for some time now, but which has been given a new lease of life with the development of Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT) and advanced analytics, by enabling the large-scale application of the concept and which includes applying it to urban planning.Numerous experts taking part in the Smart City Expo World Congress 2019 offered a practical look at some of the extremely interesting initiatives being implemented right now, in real cities.
What are digital twins and how can they be used in urban planning?
A digital twin is a virtual model of a process, product or service. It allows us to test it thoroughly and conduct a data analysis, monitoring the implemented systems in order to identify possible faults, discover new opportunities or expedite processes before they are implemented in the physical reality.A digital twin of a city is a 3D replica of a specific city, connected to the internet of things. Cities such as Lucerne, in Switzerland, are already using the technology in their urban planning.This synchronisation and replication of the virtual world and the real world, enables the analysis of the data collected in real time via sensors distributed across the city for preventive actions to be taken to tackle problems before they appear, and to expedite processes, discover new urban development opportunities and even plan the future by conducting improvement simulations.The vast amount of information collected is then processed using algorithms that classify the data and perform predictive analytics.How can virtual twins help us create smarter cities?

Virtual twins, a citizen empowerment tool
