Urban digital twins hold immense promise as live computational models of cities, synthesizing diverse knowledge, streaming data, and supporting decisions towards more inclusive planning and policy. The size, heterogeneity, and open-ended character of cities, however, pose many difficult questions, at the frontiers of what is currently possible in computational science. Overcoming these challenges provides pathways for fundamental progress in the field and a proving ground for its economic value and social relevance.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$99.00 per year
only $8.25 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Weil, C., Bibri, S. E., Longchamp, R., Golay, F. & Alahi, A. Sustain. Cities Soc. 99, 104862 (2023).
Ferré-Bigorra, J., Casals, M. & Gangolells, M. Cities 131, 103905 (2022).
Jeddoub, I., Nys, G.-A., Hajji, R. & Billen, R. Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinf. 122, 103440 (2023).
Zheng, Y. Urban Computing (The MIT Press, 2018).
Bettencourt, L. M. A. Introduction to Urban Science: Evidence and Theory of Cities as Complex Systems (The MIT Press, 2021).
Bettencourt, L. M. A. Big Data 2, 12–22 (2014).
Batty, M. et al. Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. 214, 481–518 (2012).
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Foundational Research Gaps and Future Directions for Digital Twins (National Academies Press, 2023); https://doi.org/10.17226/26894
Hayek, F. A. Am. Econ. Rev. 35, 519–530 (1945).
Nagel, K., Beckman, R. & Barrett, C. TRANSIMS for urban planning. In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management (1999).
Eubank, S. et al. Nature 429, 180–184 (2004).
Barrett, C. L., Eubank, S. G. & Smith, J. P. Sci. Am. 292, 54–61 (2005).
Yusta, J. M., Correa, G. J. & Lacal-Arántegui, R. Energy Pol 39, 6100–6119 (2011).
Schmidt, C. Nature 573, S58–S59 (2019).
Bettencourt, L. M. A. & Ribeiro, R. M. PLoS ONE 3, e2185 (2008).
Acknowledgements
I thank C. Brelsford, C. Catlett, C. Ratti, and Y. Zheng for discussions. This work was partially supported by the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation at the University of Chicago.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The author declares no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bettencourt, L.M.A. Recent achievements and conceptual challenges for urban digital twins. Nat Comput Sci 4, 150–153 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43588-024-00604-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43588-024-00604-9
