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Digital twins in city planning

Nature Computational Science volume 4, pages 192–199 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Here, I provide a perspective on digital twins of cities that cover a wide array of different types, ranging from aggregate economic and behavioral processes to more disaggregate agent-based, cellular and micro-simulations. A key element in these applications is the way that we as scientists, policymakers and planners interact with real cities with respect to their understanding, prediction and design. I note a range of spatial models, from analytical simulations of local neighborhoods to large-scale systems of cities and city systems, and briefly describe computational challenges that geospatial applications in cities pose.

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Fig. 1: The digital twin as a black box with the human in the loop.
Fig. 2: Simple 3D visualizations of digital twins.
Fig. 3: A digital twin for Great Britain based on urban accessibilities and spatial interactions.

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Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges support from the Alan Turing Institute (QUANT2-Contract-CID-3815811) and from the UK Regions Digital Research Facility (EP/M023583/1) through the UK Research and Innovation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

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    Michael Batty

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Correspondence to Michael Batty.

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Batty, M. Digital twins in city planning. Nat Comput Sci 4, 192–199 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43588-024-00606-7

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