s10676-024-09812-3

Ethics and Information Technology (2025) 27:4
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-024-09812-3
ORIGINAL PAPER
Urban Digital Twins and metaverses towards city multiplicities: uniting

or dividing urban experiences?
Javier Argota Sánchez‑Vaquerizo1
Accepted: 29 October 2024

© The Author(s) 2024
Abstract
Urban Digital Twins (UDTs) have become the new buzzword for researchers, planners, policymakers, and industry experts
when it comes to designing, planning, and managing sustainable and efficient cities. It encapsulates the last iteration of
the technocratic and ultra-efficient, post-modernist vision of smart cities. However, while more applications branded as
UDTs appear around the world, its conceptualization remains ambiguous. Beyond being technically prescriptive about
what UDTs are, this article focuses on their aspects of interaction and operationalization in connection to people in cities,
and how enhanced by metaverse ideas they can deepen societal divides by offering divergent urban experiences based on
different stakeholder preferences. Therefore, firstly this article repositions the term UDTs by comparing existing concrete
and located applications that have a focus on interaction and participation, including some that may be closer to the concept
of UDT than is commonly assumed. Based on the components found separately in the different studied cases, it is possible
to hypothesize about possible future, more advanced realizations of UDTs. This enables us to contrast their positive and
negative societal impacts. While the development of new immersive interactive digital worlds can improve planning using
collective knowledge for more inclusive and diverse cities, they pose significant risks not only the common ones regarding
privacy, transparency, or fairness, but also social fragmentation based on urban digital multiplicities. The potential benefits
and challenges of integrating this multiplicity of UDTs into participatory urban governance emphasize the need for human-
centric approaches to promote socio-technical frameworks able to mitigate risks as social division.
Keywords Urban Digital Twins · Metaverse · Participation · Social divisiveness · Human-centric planning · Collective
intelligence
Introduction and interaction expanded over the whole cycle of life of cit-
ies. Beyond technical and operational challenges, this article
The digitalization of every single component of cities has aims at repositioning the concept of UDTs by highlighting
become a commodity in recent times, as the last iteration of societal and experiential implications resulting from the
the broader concept of smart cities (Cureton & Dunn, 2020). rise of multiple co-existing examples that match metaverse
Urban Digital Twins (UDTs) aims to bring urban analytics to visions that ultimately could reinforce difference realities
the next level. They represent more tangible, actionable, and and social divides.
concrete realizations of smart cities, which involve real-time
data collection, analysis, modeling, simulation, prediction, Many urban digital doubles: from models to twins
and feedback into the city. Consequently, they are expected
to help and enhance urban planning and operations to Digital Twins were originally coined within the context of
increase the quality and sustainability of cities. Overall, they manufacturing management (Grieves, 2014) and spatial
involve data acquisition, analysis, visualization, prediction, exploration (Glaessgen & Stargel, 2012), echoing earlier
visions of digital worlds (Gelernter, 1991). This initial defi-
* Javier Argota Sánchez‑Vaquerizo nition already summarized the most important ideas of digi-
javier.argota@gess.ethz.ch tal twins: mirroring physical assets in a virtual environment
as accurately as possible to improve operations efficiency
1
Computational Social Science, D-GESS. ETH Zürich, through real-time monitoring or prediction of the life cycle.
Stampfenbachstrasse 48, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Vol.:(0123456789)
4 Page 2 of 31 J. Argota Sánchez‑Vaquerizo
As such, they referred initially to closed, deterministic through real-time bidirectional interactions and data flows,
systems and environments where control theory postulates which make possible automatic data collection from the
(Cardoso Llach, 2012; Wiener, 1961) could be easily applied physical world, and feedback, or even change, from the
as elements, interactions and limits of the system were well- digital representation back into the physical realm (Sepas-
defined. Hence, uncertainty and unpredictability issues due gozar, 2021). This automatic feedback between physical and
to complexity were manageable. However, over the years, virtual realms is the main feature that distinguishes digital
the idea of digital twins has evolved and become more twins from other digital doubles such as GIS, BIM, and CIM
sophisticated, and therefore more capabilities are expected (Masoumi et al., 2023; Shahat et al., 2021), or city control
from them. systems. The market-driven popularization of the UDT con-
Digital twins have become common across multiple fields cept has rebranded (Kim et al., 2021) many of these origi-
such as health, drug development, aviation, manufacturing, nally considered digital shadows technologies (Sepasgozar,
climate, agriculture or infrastructure management (Bruyn- 2021), whose focus is rather in data aggregation, visualiza-
seels et al., 2018; Errandonea et al., 2020; Fuller et al., tion, and communication. Now, they are seen as early-stage
2020; Guo & Lv, 2022; Kanaga Priya & Reethika, 2024). implementations of UDTs within larger recently proposed
This illustrates how they span through multiple scales, from frameworks to try to systemize the whole ecosystem of digi-
molecules to people or the entire planet. Particularly, their tal doubles for cities (Gerber et al., 2019; Haraguchi et al.,
application to the built environment has found a very fertile 2024; Kim et al., 2021; Masoumi et al., 2023; Raes et al.,
ground for development. It continues the tradition of urban 2022; White et al., 2021).
modeling since the mid-twentieth century (Batty, 2009; For- Consequently, the term “digital twin” has become
rester, 1969; Hunt et al., 2005; Iacono et al., 2008; Lowry, ambiguous, and it spans from more or less advanced
1964; Moeckel, 2018). It expands the last decade's industry expanded implementations of city models to the most recent
and governance discourse around smart cities for increasing approaches, which incorporate real-time information feed-
efficiency, optimizing processes, and improving the sustain- back loops and complex simulations of socio-technical sys-
ability of cities using technology, sensing, and data. In this tems. We can consider all of them as urban digital doubles,
sense, digital twins can be considered their last iteration or being the former models and digital shadows, and the later,
even implementation (Deren et al., 2021). gradually closer to the idea of proper digital twins (Fig. 1
Cities are particularly attractive for the development of and Table 1). This most accomplished vision of digital twins
digital twins. They are multi-scalar complex systems, the requires the integration of simulation and optimization with
result of bottom-up and top-down processes, with a rich the processing of massive volumes of low-latency data,
grand volume of data generated by intensive monitoring. which involves ubiquitous sensing and great computational
This high availability of data is also the result of the conver- power (Liu et al., 2021; Wang et al., 2019). However, no
gence of well-established preexisting technologies to virtu- example exists yet that integrates all the expected features,
alize the physical built environment such as Geographical although academia, industry, and government may envision
Information Systems (GIS), Building and City Information to grand scale digital twin as the ultimate goal (Lim et al.,
Modelling (BIM/CIM) technologies, ubiquitous sensing 2022; Nativi et al., 2021). The rest of the article will focus
using the Internet of Things (IoT), integrated into 3D city on these more advanced, interactive, complex, and still-to-
models (Biljecki et al., 2015; Lehtola et al., 2022), and more be-developed UDTs.
recently everything merging into new standards for repre-
senting city elements, such as CityGML 3.0 (Kutzner et al., Coupling with reality and the emergence
2020). of metaverses
However, different than in easier-to-control manufactur-
ing environments, UDTs face bigger challenges. Cities are There could be some fuzzy agreement about the general
complex open systems, in constant change, which are usu- capabilities that an UDT should tend to have, differentiat-
ally defined as “wicked” problems (Rittel & Webber, 1973). ing them from other digital doubles of cities: “integrated
Additionally, they involve not only tangible measurable and models based on 4D (i.e. spatio-temporal), relational and
physical aspects frequently associated with the “static” sensor interoperable, open data which could be used for
built environment, but even most of what shapes cities is a simulation and prediction at different spatial and temporal
myriad of intrinsically human socio-economic and cultural scales” (Ketzler et al., 2020). Nevertheless, there is still
processes (Batty, 2024). Thereby, the definition of UDTs a very wide range of possible levels of accomplishment
and their expected capabilities are still highly ambiguous for a digital twin (Evans et al., 2019). At the same time,
(Depretre et al., 2022; Shahat et al., 2021). it is more unclear the actual nature and expectations of
These digital representations of cities and their built a digital twin regarding coupling, interaction, feedback,
environment, physical counterparts are aimed to be linked and closeness to the physical reality. On one hand, in the
Urban Digital Twins and metaverses towards city multiplicities: uniting or dividing urban… Page 3 of 31 4
Fig. 1 Digital doubles represent and expand the physical built envi- forecasting of alternative scenarios different from the just mere repre-
ronments made out of atoms into the digital realm of bits. The built sentation of what is already. As part of the digital world of bits they
environment contains a number n of intertwined by complex relations participate and enhance the digital abundance: digital twins expand
subsystems which can be digitally represented in n’ models (Chris- the already existing multiple visions and experiences of the built
topher, 1965). Digital shadows are the simplest digital representa- environment through expanded reality (XR) (e.g. augmented reality –
tions, with limited capabilities and intractability. Digital twins are AR- or virtual reality -VR-) creating simultaneous and coexisting lay-
more accomplished, and sophisticated, with bidirectional near real- ers of the same city in a collection of urban metaverses. Figure based
time and even potentially semi- automated data flows with the built on (Saracco, 2019)
environment. They expand their capabilities through simulation and
short-term and high-frequency scope, (Batty, 2018) a close support constant readjusting and optimization of the physi-
coupling is expected between the physical reality and its cal reality. This approach would be more related to con-
representation in such a way that the collection of data tinuous operations and management and requires a tight
should inform and be processed automatically, and in real- coupling between physical assets and their representation
time by the model to provide immediate feedback that can (Tomko & Winter, 2019). As a result, the digital twin can
Table 1 Summary of main differences between traditional urban models (e.g. digital shadows) and the proposed framing for UDTs
Dimension Digital shadows (traditional urban models) Urban Digital Twins (as presented in this article)
Data flow One-way data flows from the physical world to the Two-ways data flow with (near) real-time updates and
digital representation feedback loops between the physical realm and digital
representation
Purpose Focus on visualization and accurate, static replication Dynamic models for simulation, scenario planning, and
for observation active management
Representation Singular, isolated, and centralized representation of Dynamic, multi-dimensional models integrating various
urban systems systems, data, and scales
Stakeholder involvement Limited involvement, usually technocratic and corpora- Participation of multiple stakeholders, including policy-
tive oriented makers and citizens
Impact on Urban experience Minimal focus on user or social interaction Actively able to shape differential and tailored urban
experiences, promoting either customization, inclu-
sion, and accessibility or social divisiveness
Societal impact Minimal focus on societal consequences, limited to the Politically and socially loaded, with the potential to cre-
scope of the policies that they may inform ate fragmented urban realities
be considered as an integral part of the physical system, UDTs and XR technologies to create a range of variations
now rather a cyber-physical-social system. A complemen- over the built environment in several dimensions as urban
tary perspective is the speculative and longer-term, low- digital multiplicities:
frequency city, in which the virtual representation needs to
detach from reality to explore alternative, never-existing, • From augmented ones to fully virtual ones,
scenarios which ultimately can inform future operations. • From fully individually tailored to increasingly co-shared
As such, a tight coupling, a mere mirrored representa- with other people,
tion of the physical reality would limit the exploration • From tightly coupled with reality to sandboxes able to
of alternative scenarios, which precisely requires detach- anticipate and test new speculative settings, policies, and
ing from the physical reference (Batty, 2018). Hence, this designs for cities to be potentially generalized.
understanding of UDTs represents a first methodological
divergence or split from reality. The limits of coupling, representation,
This multiplicity of urban scenarios can be particularly and predictability
enhanced by Extended reality (XR), whether in the form
of virtual (VR), mixed (MR), or augmented reality (AR) Any of these digital representations will be bounded by
(Rosenberg, 2022). Expanding the cyberpunk original sci- the very own nature of the data used (Helbing & Argota
ence fiction concept (Gibson, 1984; Stephenson, 1994), Sánchez-Vaquerizo, 2023) and by the decisions and methods
urban metaverses can be understood as several collective involved in the curation of this data. A mere accumulation
virtual shared spaces mirroring and expanding existing of big data processed by opaque and hard-to-understand
cities where people can interact, work, play, and social- and interpret machine-learning algorithms falls short. The
ize in real-time using avatars and digital identities with lack of consideration of complex effects, interactions, and
a plausible sense of presence (Ball, 2022). They can take interdependencies (Caldarelli et al., 2023; Grieves & Vick-
the form of different XRs, whether as completely virtual ers, 2016) contributes to the limitation of the digital rep-
environments or as virtual layers on top of the physical resentations of cities. Cities are the result of the interplay
reality that is augmented, while they could consist of mul- of bottom-up and top-down processes. As such, a system
tiple coexisting and interconnected XRs (Rosenberg, 2022) aiming at representing, analyzing, and forecasting the future
(thereby, we would talk rather of a metaverse of metav- of urban environments would try to get as close to the physi-
erses). Every stakeholder involved in city planning can cal environment as possible. While assuming the simplifi-
come to the urban metaverse, participate, and exchange cation of our models (Batty, 2021) our current data-driven
ideas to reach a consensus (Dembski et al., 2020; Helbing approaches over-represents physical assets and rely heavily
et al., 2023). These spaces are characterized by their per- on data analytics tools, perpetuating a restricted vision of
sistence, interoperability, and the ability for users to create cities as if they were soulless, asocial machines.
and influence the environment and content within them Considering simultaneously different models that are
in an open-ended way. Thereby, urban metaverses are all at least partially valid or useful may help to overcome the
these possible expansions of the built environment made limitations of representing and modeling socio-economic,
possible by the interplay, aggregation, and federation of human systems of the physical world. (Helbing, 2013).
Also, this incorporates multiple worldviews and approaches challenges (Abdeen & Sepasgozar, 2022). People may have
to problems which can be hard to be fully formalized and different considerations than planners and designers regard-
hence intrinsically wicked (Batty, 2021; Rittel & Webber, ing the built environment, which adds to the unpredictability
1973). This pluralistic modeling could consist of many par- of environments that have not been planned for the unplan-
allel, federated digital twins able to provide a more accurate nable (Gram-Hansen, 2017). In this sense, there is a public
picture of the systems, their interactions, and their future, interest in engaging citizens in the utilization of UDTs to
by encapsulating the diversity, conflicts, and tensions of our enrich, analyze, and forecast cities' evolution (Yamu et al.,
real world (Gerber et al., 2019; Hudson-Smith et al., 2022; 2023). It is promoted by international good practices and it
Page, 2018). While the understanding of human socioeco- is an increasingly common trend in cities as shown in many
nomic processes has improved over the last decades, it is still participatory and co-creation processes as fundamental for
needed to define and model the relations between physical sustainable urban development (Bouzguenda et al., 2019).
and socio-economic representations (Batty, 2018). Particu- If cities are designed for the well-being of the people they
larly, the inclusion of human, social, cultural, and psycho- house, citizens should be able to participate in their plan-
logical factors, hardly quantifiable and still fundamental for ning. Indeed, digital twins can be potentially examined and
the quality of human settlements, is still a challenge in the experienced by the general public to provide feedback on
representation of urban systems. However, it may be con- the proposed changes in the city (White et al., 2021). How-
sidered impossible to predict and forecast holistic future ever, most of the development of digital twins has focused
scenarios (Cureton & Dunn, 2020). on the physical aspects of cities, with little role of people
The representation and conceptualization of the city and social, economic, cultural, and behavioral processes
would benefit from: (Batty, 2024). Also, we cannot disregard the well-known
challenges of citizens' participation in planning processes in
• Combining data-based and hypothesis-based approaches cities even out of the context of digitalization, which usually
based on theory linked to complexity science (Caldarelli includes misrepresentation, instrumentalization, and other
et al., 2023), and forms of flawed participation (Blundell Jones et al., 2013).
• Updating and enriching the way they codify and represent Alternatively, including citizens’ participation in UDTs can
components, processes, knowledge, and relations hap- be used to increase situation awareness about future plans
pening in cities. Semantic representations (Chadzyn- while providing an understandable interactive way that can
ski et al., 2022; von Richthofen et al., 2022) in digital overcome engagement obstacles for consultation processes
twins developments can enable a better, richer, and more (Ketzler et al., 2020).
aligned representation of reality with human understand- People can play different roles in this process and may
ing. appear in different stages. From an interaction point of view,
they can be the end users of a given framework, whether
Semantic approaches to data representation can unlock just as receivers of higher-quality information or actively
new possibilities for raw data used currently in urban plan- participating in planning and decision-making processes. In
ning, modeling, and urban codes: the former, people can be simple users of digital frameworks
and platforms for useful information; they can interact and
• It enables making raw data more understandable, and elaborate on information together with other citizens. In the
ultimately, operationalizable, and latter, they can be even the curators and creators of crowd-
• It allows expanding the possibilities of their exploitation sourced data for these systems, if not really engaging and
to address domain expert questions and challenges. being part of planning support (Batty et al., 2012).
As any element is subject to be conceptualized, coded,
Overall, it faces some of the current issues on how much analyzed, and planned, people are not only the prosumers
data is needed to accurately grasp, represent, or depict urban and evaluators of data, frameworks, and resulting policies
life. The question may be on how we represent and encode and planning decisions. They are also active constituents
that data. This high-level approach aims to generate agnostic of the built environment whose behavior and cognition are
graph knowledge platforms with a potential global scope subject to be analyzed and modeled. Their interactions with
(Akroyd et al., 2021). the built environment are usually not sufficiently represented
and understood in our existing big data, from a cognitive,
The role of people: participation psychological, and cultural point of view. As active agents
of urban systems, people interact in different ways between
The role of humans in the development of UDTs, whether as them, with other elements, with the environment, and with
operators, people-in-the-loop, or even simply as end-users, the tools available. XR has been proven to be very hand-
collaborators, or sources of information is one of the main ful for research behavior in the built environment and to
enhance the role of citizens as active agents of innovation, scholarly reviews. The aim of this state-of-the-art review
inclusion, and social development (Dembski et al., 2020; (Grant & Booth, 2009) is to analyze existing tools, imple-
Hudson-Smith & Batty, 2023; Hudson-Smith et al., 2022; mentations, and frameworks while expanding the research
Sanchez-Sepulveda et al., 2019; VU.CITY, 2021; White scope by adding examples that can be considered unexpect-
et al., 2021). Also, mirroring the diversity involved in city edly as equally or even more accomplished realizations of
shaping, and building successful and actionable UDTs UDTs. Therefore, it bridges the gap between scholarly pro-
demands the collaboration of multiple stakeholders with duction and grey literature. Above all, it tries to add a new
diverse expertise (Allam et al., 2022) and reflecting local perspective on UDTs to highlight how they can be related
knowledge (Nochta et al., 2021). It means, co-create tools to human-centric planning. For this purpose, the analysis
for co-creation. does not focus only on scientific literature and does not seek
The use of computer intelligence to expand the capabili- for completion of exhaustiveness, as of a systematic review,
ties of people to participate in the planning of changes in of all the digital twins recorded in academic texts such as
cities goes beyond mere interaction. One of the challenges other recent reviews on the subject (Alva et al., 2022; Boje
of participation in urbanism, as in any deliberation and et al., 2022; Ferré-Bigorra et al., 2022; Jeddoub et al., 2023;
decision-making process, is the sharing and combination Ketzler et al., 2020). Therefore, it includes well-known
of different agendas, preferences, and opinions. Diversity published academic examples, together with other industry
is a feature of cities. Divergence is embedded in the experi- and government-related solutions to illustrate trends and
ence of the city, not only from opinions and preferences. directions of technology and practice with a focus in these
The same urban context, the same built environment, the examples that involve citizens and other urban stakeholders’
same location, and features will be evaluated, appreciated, participation.
and perceived differently by different individuals (Pocock & The selection of examples is driven by a practical and
Hudson, 1978). The current development of Artificial Intelli- human-interaction perspective. Therefore, it is limited to
gence (AI) aims at supporting democratic participatory pro- functional, interactive, concrete, and situated implementa-
cesses from where people could expose and receive feedback tions of UDTs, as gathered from recent reviews. Functional
from their fellows mediated by computational intelligence. refers to examples that go beyond theoretical or abstract
It means digitally assisted deliberation and debate, to align framework proposals, have a clear case study, and a pur-
opinions and preferences (Zaremba et al., 2023). From the pose. Interactive refers to allowing for some type of people’s
understanding that (urban) digital twins require bidirectional interaction, e.g. citizens, non-experts. Therefore, prototypes
flows of information, the role of stakeholders and people, in or frameworks which have not been publicly available, or
general, is even more important. Within this perspective, the whose use has been restricted to only in-house experts,
feedback and directionality can be understood from a very officers, and governments are not included. Also, it includes
computational, data-driven perspective. It is, in tangible and implementations of XR examples that are coupled with the
computable data flows between the physical reality and the physical environment (i.e. reality-based) and which engages
virtual representation. However, it can be seen from a more with citizen participation. Concrete and situated refers to
cognitive, policy, and social perspective: directionality can examples that are linked and paired to a physical, defined,
be also informing people and interactions between human and located environment. Hence, for instance, metaverse
“operators” involved in the decision-making process and the applications developed in VR without a connection to a
virtual mirrored representation. In this context, the actuators location are not included.
would be the humans being affected by the digital twin. From the selected examples, some common trends can
be identified (categorized and summarized in Table 3 in the
Appendix). Firstly, we can identify earlier implementations
Examples of Urban Digital Twins of open UDTs developed by city governments such as those
of Amsterdam, Antwerp, Boston, Helsinki, Rotterdam, Vic-
The generalization of the use of UDTs in the last years has toria, Vienna, Zurich, and Zwolle, which are rather expan-
boosted the number of examples illustrated in science and sions on previously available GIS data visualization tools
industry. Despite the confusion of the term and the very (Boston Planning & Development Agency, 2018; City of
early stage of their development, they can be conceptualized Amsterdam, 2020; City of Helsinki, 2019; City of Vienna,
and defined based on their application data, inputs, data pro- 2021; IMEC, 2018a, b; Lehner & Dorffner, 2020; NSW
cessing, visualization, outputs, and actuators in the physical Government, 2022; Rotterdam, 2021; Ruohomaki et al.,
environment (Ferré-Bigorra et al., 2022). 2018; Schrotter & Hürzeler, 2020; Victoria State Govern-
The selection of urban digital doubles (Table 2 in the ment, 2022; Yamu et al., 2023). They are an expansion of
Appendix) tries to expand the scope of analysis on UDTs policy and governance concerns. They add at least 3D mod-
beyond normative and technical definitions and exhaustive els (Biljecki et al., 2015), including building, vegetation,
and topography, which enable in some cases visibility and use of these tools was also a common enhancer of people's
sunlight studies. Their availability on open websites makes participation in creating and interacting with these solutions
already existing open data sets more accessible and under- (Bacco et al., 2017; De Filippi et al., 2020). This allows for a
standable for people by creating integrated and interactive more sophisticated exploration of complex aspects of cities,
visualization tools. Therefore, they represent also exten- increasing the legibility of not-so-obvious aspects of urban
sions of already undergoing open data initiatives hosted by dynamics (Mohammadi et al., 2020).
many of these cities. The interaction is pretty much limited While keeping the focus on governance and policy-related
to making accessible and transparent planning and some aspects, other urban digital doubles have a stronger focus on
environmental information to people. Citizens have easier people participation. While the UDTs of Dublin Docklands,
access to useful information for their daily concerns or just Herrenberg, Gothenburg, Kalatasama, Nancuiping Park,
for already existing public consultancy periods for urban Zwolle, and the Pasymo project for a few cities in Branden-
planning. Hence, the feedback is just based on information burg are built on top of existing geospatial data expanded
received by citizens that may enact further action or change and visualized in a 3D city model, they aim at people’s inter-
their opinion to activate other counterbalances in the exist- action to provide feedback from citizens’ local knowledge
ing political and bureaucratic framework. These cases are (König et al., 2017) and their preferences (Airaksinen et al.,
slightly closer to the traditional urban models and digital 2019; Dembski et al., 2020; Luo et al., 2022; Priebe et al.,
shadows (Fig. 1 and Table 1). 2019; Visual Arena, 2022; White et al., 2021; Yamu et al.,
The examples from Antwerp, Gothenburg, DUET in 2023). These examples are not only representations of exist-
Athens, Plsen and Flanders, Madrid, Rennes, Rotterdam, ing geospatial data but elaborations of dynamic data layers,
Singapore and some Australian states integrate dynamic such as simulations resulting from mobility flows or urban
data into the city model (Ayuntamiento de Madrid, 2024; sensing. Also, they allow for the representation of alternative
Government of Singapore, 2018; IMEC, 2018a, b; NSW plans and non-existing scenarios more effectively for people
Government, 2022; Queensland State Government & Ter- and stakeholders to express their different opinions and con-
ria, 2021; Raes et al., 2022; Rotterdam, 2021; Victoria State cerns. Hence, they need to create additional ways of inter-
Government, 2022; Visual Arena, 2022). This data could action to elicit people’s responses. For this purpose, some
come from people's behavior, goods movement, and energy projects for Barcelona, London, and the digital twins for
flows in the city such as the ones associated with mobility Herrenberg, and Dublin Docklands implement human–com-
or logistic networks; or from IoT urban sensing infrastruc- puter interaction methods using immersive environments in
ture, such as in the case of environment monitoring. Their XR that facilitate engaging visualizations of abstract aspects
scope falls between data aggregation and visualization, and of urban life (Dembski et al., 2020; Hudson-Smith & Batty,
advanced planning and urban management for improving 2023; Hudson-Smith et al., 2022; Sanchez-Sepulveda et al.,
city operations (e.g. mobility, urban design, policymaking, 2019; VU.CITY, 2021; White et al., 2021). The design of
or resource allocation) with different levels of stakeholder interaction is a key aspect of these examples, as it ensures
engagement, toward the development of more complex plat- the coherence of the linkage and the robustness of the learn-
forms for coordinating and aggregating different applica- ing and co-creation process (Liu et al., 2022).
tions, models, and twins (Ayuntamiento de Madrid, 2024; A different approach is followed by other immersive
Government of Singapore, 2018) even at larger geographic developments for participation that proposed urban metav-
areas such as SMART Zwolle (Yamu et al., 2023), or even erses that focus on marketing, events, tourism, and local
entire countries like Japan (MLIT, 2023). Precisely, smart business through interactive gamification like in the case
energy is one of the domains that attract more attention for of Santa Monica Metaverse (Allam et al., 2022). Seoul's
the development of UDTs, probably due to their similari- metaverse project (de Almeida, 2023; Seoul Metropolitan
ties to controllable manufacturing environments. This is the Government, 2023) and AR Incheon (Um et al., 2022) have
case of the platform developed for Cardiff (Boje et al., 2022; leveraged digital twins to engage people in novel ways with
Cardiff University, 2024), and pilots for smart districts and the city, expanding services and enhancing experiences.
smaller sections of a city (Alva et al., 2022) like in the Geor- Although still in the early development stages, their pri-
gia Tech campus (Xu et al., 2019) or new developments such mary aim is not urban planning. Also, their coupling and
as Nottingham’s Trent Basin (IES, 2021; Strielkowski et al., feedback loop to physical reality is not designed, although
2022), and Aspern in Vienna (ASCR, 2015). Despite their it may be expected to happen just by motivating new visitors
focus on energy optimization, they highlight the importance and supporting marketing and tourism-related activities like
of user interaction. Other applications, such as in the case of in the case of Benidorm (Six3D & Ayuntamiento de Beni-
Newcastle, focus on emergency response (Wolf et al., 2022). dorm, 2023) or tokenized economy aiming at having positive
The examples of Pisa and Turin show the two-fold need to business outcomes such as in the case of Dubai (Metaverse
gather data of interest for people and engage them in the Dubai, 2022).
One of the most common ways to enhance participation visualization, immersion, or design capabilities. Addition-
and engagement in urban issues is serious games (Poplin, ally, end-users can provide feedback, opinions, and addi-
2012), an approach that has been tested in Dadaocheng, Hel- tional data, although it is mediated, moderated, and filtered
sinki, and Gothenborg (City of Helsinki, 2019; Ruohomaki by the service owner. Also, it allows for forecasting future
et al., 2018; Visual Arena, 2022; S. Wang & Vu, 2023). The scenarios based on past learned data. At the very end, peo-
Royal Ports of Stockholm, Hämeenlinna, Olomouc, and Svit ple can plan and change their behavior (within the scope of
have gone a step further by implementing gamified strategies the available data and interactions, i.e. changing a route,
using directly existing video games to create UDTs, simu- the departure time, or visiting a shop) accordingly. Con-
late the dynamics of the city, and use their already built-in sequently, even within the relatively limited scope of the
capabilities and interactions to engage people in the plan- software, it is probably a glimpse of how a global digital
ning process and integrate collaboratively their preferences twin may look in the future.
in the design (Pinos et al., 2020). While these digital twins However, there are more obvious, invasive, and disrupt-
do not deploy a full ecosystem of consistent, massive, and ing initiatives of intensively data-driven cities that aim to
immersive metaverses, they are operationalizable and suc- monitor the whole life cycle of the built environment under
cessful examples of the use of participation in digital twins these human-centric data-driven systems for sensing, mod-
for planning. eling, mapping, and accounting such as the failed attempts of
The use of existing tools such as games across different Alphabet to redevelop Toronto’s Quayside (Sidewalk Labs,
locations like in the case of “Cities: Skylines” (Pinos et al., 2017). Under the premise of people using their own data to
2020), or even Minecraft (Wang & Vu, 2023), highlights improve the functioning of the city, they proposed a perva-
the importance of interoperability of these frameworks. sive monitoring and data exchange to automate planning,
While acknowledging the importance of digital twins, the services, and governance. The core of the proposal was the
lack of standards in the specifications of data, encoding of development of planning and governance automated through
information, architecture, format, and interactions, among data-driven outcome-based code, which embedded a whole
others, is one of the main limitations for the generalization replica of citizens moving and behaving in a simulation of
and scalability of these technologies (Lei et al., 2023). Most the city. This raised concerns regarding accountability, trans-
of the presented examples are based on the exploitation of parency, and privatization of public governance processes. It
isolated data silos and are ad hoc solutions for a particular proposed replacing the existing socio-political organization
set of locally situated problems. This endeavor drives the in the city with some sort of data-driven and market-signal
development of general frameworks to create digital twins system. Eventually, the initiative was abandoned because
covering from data acquisition to human-centric modeling of concerns regarding privacy, governance, accountability,
and end-user interaction which can be replicable across mul- and lack of investment support (Artyushina, 2023), which
tiple locations (Raes et al., 2022). Developing these standard highlights the inherent challenges to converge planning, gov-
frameworks for UDTs also requires conceptualizing their ernance, and market-driven interests within the context of
design from a socio-technical perspective and understand- UDTs as metaverses that effectively affect daily life.
ing the current processes of planning and policymaking at
a local level as illustrated in an updated version of the UDT
from Cambridge from a social-technical perspective (Nochta Discussion
et al., 2021).
A good example of the idea of global scalability and Future realizations: from twins to metaverses
coverage from a common framework and clear standards
and interaction rules aiming at a global audience is Google Real UDTs with automatic informational loops between
Maps (and in fact, all the suite of geospatial-related Google physical and virtual realms have not been accomplished
products such as Google Street View, Google Earth, or Sun- yet. It is still a concept under development and lacks many
roof). Although it is not frequently considered, when Google essential components to urban and human life. The consid-
Maps is analyzed from the perspective of an UDT, it covers ered cases in the previous section only include partially one
many of the expected features (West, 2021). It gathers and or a few of the expected features of UDTs. Although some
integrates tons of geospatial data, as well as in real-time promising examples start to exhibit the multiplicity of sce-
(e.g. traffic, business activity, and people concentration from narios enhanced by participation, the human factor is still
Android user habits and behavior). The interaction rules a challenge to be effectively integrated into digital twins in
are defined, and people get immediate feedback about the the endeavor of overcoming a purely engineering a technical
current state of the physical environment while accessing perspective. While our massive big data promises to provide
useful information for daily life. It operates as a platform more accuracy and better predictions, we need to take into
supporting additional applications, which enhance planning, consideration that these assumptions will fall short: data is
limited, bounded, partial, and mediated by definition, which (iii) Finally, it is possible to consider new and unbounded
limits ultimately the way we represent our physical world possibilities for economic and social activity. This
and couples with the embedded uncertainty of such complex approach is inherited from existing examples of
systems (Caldarelli et al., 2023). Urban systems, and cities, decentralized virtual worlds for leisure and business,
are not deterministic machines (Mattern, 2017). although their convergence with governance goals is
The urban metaverse can be understood simultaneously as still to be defined either as just boosters of a new eco-
the expansion and as a consequence of UDTs with the inclu- nomic activity sector or as part of a deeper process of
sion of diversity from people and societal interactions (Lv tokenization of physical assets in a supposedly more
et al., 2022), i.e. interactions with all the digitized elements decentralized financial system.
and between the users.
The construction of its functionality, trustworthiness, and If we also consider the metaverse as a 3D extension of the
purpose relies on three main areas: Internet, we can anticipate some trends based on what we
are experiencing on a more mature technology as the web.
(i) As a cooperative tool to support governance and The Internet operates to some degree as a sandbox where
planning, urban metaverses inherit features of UDTs alternative scenarios, lives, frameworks, and overall, ways of
as an evolution of the latter caused by social diver- living, are tested in a virtual setting before they materialize
sity. They are very accurate digital representations in physical reality. Similarly, in the built environment where
of the built environment, open to the participation of the same physical locations are experienced and perceived
different stakeholders. They are distributed, interop- differently, the Internet makes even easier these effects. Peo-
erable, open, federated, decentralized, scalable, and ple perceive and interact differently with the same hyper-
synchronized ecosystems of urban applications able text protocol, the same infrastructure, the same code, and
to facilitate the integration of multiple data sources the same information that supports the whole web, and not
and formats to improve services, operation, and plan- exclusively because of individual cognition differences that
ning of the city. This is possible by offering a holis- lead to different personal experiences. Banners and ads,
tic vision of the city by including the representation product recommendations, or news and social media content
of urban assets and dynamics engaging with urban and feeds are personalized. While all this raw information
complexity, while facilitating interfacing with the is available to everyone in the same infrastructure, people
multiple constraints and regulatory conditions that experience different partial subsets defined by code.
usually make it troublesome to navigate policy and This anticipates how the interaction of citizens with the
planning processes, particularly for non-experts. This built environment could be with a more intensive and per-
includes creating virtual scenarios suitable for multi- vasive mediation of software and code, whether it is through
ple applications for analysis, simulation, and evalu- modeling, digital twins, or immersive XR environments.
ation of infrastructures, including safety concerns. Divisive and differential experiences and interactions in our
The integration of predictive models allows for com- inhabited environment (whether physical or virtual) will be
paring different policy and planning strategies such more frequent. In fact, the same physical built environment
as urban sustainability. Finally, they are synchronized supports different individual and collective experiences of
with the physical city in collaboration with human the space. The same environment is perceived differently
intelligence to respond in real-time to specific and by different people. Moreover, the built environment is nor-
personal needs, and ultimately actuating and causing matively segregated for being used by different groups of
changes in the physical reality. citizens at different moments.
(ii) As an expander and diversifier for reality, citizens In the coming years, the use of smartphone apps and head-
and other stakeholders can not only envision pos- sets will facilitate to augment our physical environment, hence
sible futures but respond to them accordingly. As a expanding its affordances (Gibson, 1979). On one hand, adapt-
result of the discussion, exchange, and construction ing and customizing in real-time and continuously the outlook
of alternative futures, UDTs will lead to urban metav- of our built environment will become common. Almost like
erses that could expand effectively the physical real- already existing instantaneous filters used by smartphone apps,
ity (XR). Thereby they could modify how people live it would be possible to adapt our space to our needs and prefer-
and interact with the built environment, dividing the ences seamlessly (Lopez Rodriguez & Pantic, 2023). We could
use, perception, and experience of the built environ- imagine a hyper-media layer where useful, personally curated
ment either for exploration, testing purposes, or for information regarding your daily chores that only you can see
providing an adapted, customized, or fitted environ- is displayed overlying the physical reality. Existing devices that
ment to particular needs, preferences or even capa- allow us to visualize privately our own media or workspace
bilities (Kuru, 2023). merged in the physical space that we share with others are
already outlining this possibility. Also, current BIM, construc- Every single individual may desire to change, adapt,
tion management, and industrial XR applications can guide, or repurpose the virtual layer that augments a preexisting
anticipate, and help to visualize hidden or future components physical environment shared by everyone (i.e. reality-based
and layers of information. Or cultural heritage applications metaverse). We are starting to see some early proof of the
that currently are helping to record artifacts and rebuild past concept of that disruption in standalone apps. For instance,
environments and settings will converge with educational and nowadays it is possible to process a video of people to simu-
tourism-oriented services to show lost physical environments. late that they were speaking in any desired language hardly
On the other hand, it makes it possible for unequal levels of distinguishable from the original (Chesney & Citron, 2019).
augmentation of the environment that can provide advan- Through XR, LMMs, and user input, it would be possible to
tages only to those who can access them. This vision of an transform these interpersonal interactions in real-time. These
augmented-reality metaverse is not new and has been already possibilities expand to other realms too. Image synthesis
pictured years ago (Matsuda, 2016). and style transfer could be applied in real-time to the build-
Whether in a purely virtual-based metaverse or for ings and urban landscape that surround people on demand:
extending physical reality, it would be possible to create adding more greenery, changing the facades look, hiding
digital realistic replicas of any given environment or any buildings, or modifying the views from their window at
element effortlessly. Beyond industrial mass production, it home or at the office (Mugita et al., 2023). In virtual-based
provides even further endless possibilities to generate ver- metaverses, the possibilities would be even further due to the
sions and alternatives, which can adapt to personal needs lack of physical world constraints. The easier implementa-
or preferences. This post-mechanical digital reproduction tion of these powerful generative techniques in purely virtual
deepens the shift in creative production regarding its socio- worlds is already showing their first examples (Hill, 2023).
cultural value, and its political role (Walter, 1936), now also This creates endless changing cities customized for every
revealing social insights hidden in data (Kalpokas, 2023). citizen. Potentially nobody would inhabit the same city if it
At the same time, this digital abundance allows expanding were even now the case (Fig. 2). Altogether, this collective
the built environment, and potentially even could replace intelligence may help to create and build cities that reflect
physical construction, making some new buildings unnec- and combine more effectively their intrinsic diversity.
essary, and thereby saving resources (Trickett, 2023). The
development of increasingly more sophisticated, realistic, An actionable tool
and embodied interactions and feedback methods would be
critical for their success. Altogether, any type of metaverse The challenge of UDTs is helping to provide high-quality
would enhance the augmented diversity of a city with very built environments, more sustainable and resilient, for
differential final environment realizations over the same people. In general, these tools have to serve a purpose, be
infrastructures, which here, literally, refer to the underlying trustworthy, and function effectively (Bolton et al., 2018).
physical reality that supports presence. Beyond issues with major integration challenges (Jeddoub
Furthermore, the challenge is not only to design a cyber- et al., 2023), for having a meaningful digital double closely
physical environment with meaningful interactions for peo- connected to the physical system (Gerber et al., 2019), the
ple. Within the domain of human–computer interaction, there human factor is frequently missing. People need to be con-
are still important challenges. The generative potential of AI sidered both from (i) the behavioral (i.e. what it means to
is still in its early phases, as it is the way that humans can consider human preferences, cognition, actions, and socio-
interface with machine intelligence in increasingly closer cultural aspects) and (ii) the interaction point of view (i.e.
forms to natural language (Kumar et al., 2023). Leaving aside what and how can be changed in the digital representation,
the interpretability of the opaque undergoing algorithms that how preferences and opinions are collected, what are the
can generate humanly plausible results and interactions, the game rules).
next step is mixed media. Large Mixed Models (LMMs) UDTs can be effective tools to test out policies and plan-
(Yang et al., 2023) will be able to connect human cogni- ning decisions without risk at a minimal cost than in physi-
tion, expressiveness (and ultimately wishes) into computer- cal reality (Dembski et al., 2020; Mahajan et al., 2022). The
readable information that could be transformed in any media development of digital representations of complex urban
or humanly meaningful stimuli, whether we refer to image socio-technical systems enriched with immersive methods
generation, sound, haptics, among others. The combination of participation, interaction, and feedback for people can pro-
of the metaverse’s ability to generate endless copies and vari- vide more effective city planning than existing processes for
ations of a given scenario through augmentation and virtual- decision-making (Abdeen & Sepasgozar, 2022). Following
ization, along with a seamless connection of human cognition these needs, such systems should be able to generate urban
(including speech, or even thought) to generative AI opens a planning answers informed directly by a continuous feedback
future of endless possibilities. loop created from the interaction of citizens with the urban
Fig. 2 Multiplicity of cities: urban digital multiplicities. From the configuration of future cities. Some of them will be unique, others
same physical environment, endless variations may be accomplished. will be shared. Simultaneously, they can enhance segregated expe-
They can be caused by cognitive and psychological differences riences of the city breaking apart the common sharing of the urban
between individuals (vertical axis) or by on-purpose variations (hor- environment. Variations of the same scenario have been generated
izontal axis) that can help to build up collective intelligence in the using Adobe Firefly
digital double, the future visions, and also interactions among built-up surfaces, separation between buildings, occupation
them. Overall, such frameworks should be able to automate of plots, maximum heights, materials, views, infrastructure
at some degree decision-making, data and preferences col- allocation, public services, distribution of housing units, min-
lection, feedback gathering and aggregation, processing, imal habitational conditions, shadows, views rights, energetic
visualization, and the generation of alternatives with hybrid performance, etc. As such, typological, formal, and func-
intelligence (Dellermann et al., 2019; König et al., 2017), tional changes in cities can be analyzed as the final expres-
transparently and consistently (Lock et al., 2021). It is, with sion of changing building codes and standards over time
humans involved and participating in the process, potentially (Bubola, 2021). In this sense, building codes are spatially
supporting consensus building and democratic processes and socially performative and normative. It sets and primes
(Dembski et al., 2020; Helbing et al., 2023). human behavior. Overall, it determines the many affordances
The motivation for these planning tools is two-fold: of spaces. Hence, it can enhance or cancel social and behav-
ioral traits and productive economic activities.
i. Cognitively, by raising situational awareness (Shahat Code as software is equally performative and normative.
et al., 2021) in the present and future, and bridging It regulates what can and cannot be done in physical and
the knowledge gap for people when informing their digital spaces (Dodge & Kitchin, 2005), and how consist-
opinion and decision-making regarding complex city- ency and trust can be built in such systems. Following the
making processes, where participation is increasingly idea of the Internet as a predictor of what is yet to come in
more important; more immersive, interactive, and embodied virtual worlds
ii. Operationally, by introducing into UDT models a coupled with physical reality, the Web is a socially produced
range of hard-to-measure and uncertain human, social, space as it is the urban space (Lefebvre, 1974). However,
cultural, and psychological aspects in a machine-read- it comes with the additional constraint that its affordances
able way. (Gibson, 1979) are fully limited by the underlying code
(Proctor, 2021) even in a more restrictive way:
Partially mirroring BIM collaborative environments (Car-
doso Llach & Argota Sánchez-Vaquerizo, 2019), without • Computational legalism: While conceptually similar,
the hierarchical and finalist constraints, UDTs can help to software code is more rigid, deterministic, and not sub-
humanly fine-tune the space of suboptimal solutions accord- ject to interpretation as legal code (Diver, 2021).
ing to citizens' (and other stakeholders') preference. A com- • Software-based environment: This type of code is radi-
mon framework, ideally with publicly defined standards, cally defining because it defines all that can be done and
where different stakeholders can build their own instances built in digital spaces as the own existence of such a
in a federated way. Common, interoperable, but at the digital environment relies completely on code.
same time able to host and integrate individual interests,
variations, and models. Thereby, this framework of hybrid This sets a completely different implication of the nature
knowledge could overcome single-dimensional utilitarian of code as a behavior determiner that is not so acute in physi-
optimizations to provide a set of solutions that can satisfy cal space. Furthermore, code, even more radically in virtual-
reasonably a diversity of requirements, agendas, and needs. based digital spaces, is much harder to hack and circumnavi-
It means pluralistic solutions, and diverse scenarios from gate, as it accounts not only for what would be conventional
collective intelligence supported by aligned machine intel- norms, rules, and assets in the physical world. It defines also
ligence (Zaremba et al., 2023) that benefit many different what would be equivalent to the simplest physics and natural
people. laws. In sum, algorithmic governance takes a new and almost
totalizing meaning: following the logic of smart contracts,
Code is normative and performative they are executed automatically and deterministically, all the
time, permeating every single aspect of these environments,
Building codes and other legal texts regulate spatial occu- from interactions, pseudo-physical laws, presence, aesthet-
pation, land use, and activities that may happen in space. ics, actions. This requires all these elements in tangible,
They have a deep impact on the shape, material, densities, countable, and tokenizable, either for control and ownership
and actions that give place to the built (urban, suburban, and purposes, or just to reconstruct digitally some, already lost,
rural) environment (Easterling, 2014). sense of aura, value, and authenticity (Kalpokas, 2023; Wal-
Institutionalized building codes, as a law, have a deep ter, 1936), if not to retrofit digital abundance with digital
impact on people's lives and perform of urban spaces (Pry- commodification (Horkheimer & Adorno, 1947) and a form
therch, 2012). It determines what and what is not allowed of simulated scarcity (Bocquillon & Loon, 2022). This power
in different parts of the city, which activities and land uses is even more relevant given the known persuasive power of
are compatible, and up to which point. It defines densities, computational frameworks such as the polarizing effects of
social media, or by influencing human behavior and opinions Limits and risks of Urban Digital Twins
such as the case of dark patterns (Fagan, 2024; Reviglio &
Agosti, 2020). UDTs can be powerful tools for planning and simulation.
Considering (i) the physical, situated anchoring of these They provide solid support for civic engagement that con-
UDTs, (ii) their envisioned relevance for governance in tributes to more effective decision-making processes. How-
these locations, and (iii) the participation of individual and ever, their implementation, particularly the deeper that
collective (i.e. companies, governmental bodies) stakehold- immersive virtual environments are implemented, leads to
ers to exchange their opinions, interests, and concerns, the societal, legal, and ethical risks that can enhance social divi-
agency, ownership and sovereignty of these systems cannot siveness among other issues.
be ignored. The convenient outsourcing of the physical infra- At a very basic level, validation is one of the main con-
structure that supports these cyber-social systems cannot be cerns. Starting from the acknowledgment of the limitation of
separated from the governance and policymaking process that the data itself, and their known biases, how can we make sure
they are supposed to support. Also, while digitizing aspects of that the model matches the real dynamics and functioning of
daily life may save energy, human, and material resources, it the city? This validation process becomes even more complex
comes with the tradeoff of ramping up the resources needed when considering the most uncertain components, such as
to keep up this physical IT infrastructure. The current devel- human behavior and cognition. Ensuring that these models
opment of socio-technical systems for participatory gov- capture the diversity and unpredictability of social systems
ernance and co-creation in cities generates a paradoxical, is a significant challenge (Caldarelli et al., 2023). However,
and potentially risky, situation. To be really actionable and these systems usually rely on automatic data-driven algo-
operationalizable these systems need to increase their level rithms and processes without human intervention. The idea
of complexity, which simultaneously require relying on larger that more data will provide more efficient and better decisions
resources and humongous computing infrastructures that do necessarily builds on top of massive data collection. Immedi-
not belong to the instances that they are supposed to sup- ately, this raises the question of ownership, agency, and access
port. They escape public accountability and control. On the to data, which ultimately is another enhancer of social divi-
contrary, they depend on very few extremely powerful tech- siveness (Andrejevic, 2014). This expands the whole need for
nological players, privately-owned, and market-driven. This consideration of the human factor beyond purely technical and
compromises sovereignty, self-determination, and the defini- functional requirements. The benefits of UDTs are not auto-
tion of public good (Gstrein, 2023), together with technical matic and require a multi-disciplinary approach that takes into
risks to centralization and concentration of service providers. account a socio-technical perspective (Kitchin, 2015; Nochta
What kind of digital illusion is a decentralized and federated et al., 2021).
metaverse whose needed physical infrastructure depends on The need for data, and its own commodification, force the
a few players? virtualization of every single asset or aspect into the digital
This ubiquitous and pervasive presence of code and data realm, including human behavior, thoughts, and emotions
expands the inherent risks already identified for data-driven (Bibri & Allam, 2022). Precisely, what is hard, uncertain,
smart cities such as dataveillance, geo-veillance, anonymiza- or intangible in the physical world needs to be tangible,
tion and re-identification, obfuscation and reduced control, quantifiable, and computable in the digital world, making
and empty or absent notice (Kitchin, 2016). Also, it includes every single action easier to monitor in virtual environments,
other risks that are generally associated with data-driven sys- and strengthening trends of surveillance capitalism (Zuboff,
tems such as data and algorithmic biases related to quality, 2023). Or what can be more concerning: constraining and
transparency, accountability, representability, agency, and nudging human behavior and agency to match the param-
fairness. While decentralized approaches promise to cre- eters of what can be modeled and measured. An immer-
ate a self-organized and self-regulated governance scheme, sive virtual environment may be the perfect realization of a
fundamental concerns remain as they may be necessary but data-controlled and measurable environment: a self-fulfill-
not sufficient conditions for ensuring this (Edelman, 2021; ing prophecy where now everything is, and needs to be for
Goldberg & Schär, 2023), nor may be participation alone being, measurable, tractable, tokenizable, and monetizable.
sufficient. Regulatory strategies may be needed (Rosenberg, Virtual environments may provide societal and cognitive
2022; Suffia, 2023) and they could help to establish stand- advantages (Graham et al., 2022; Hutson, 2022), although
ards and common practices that may help to solve issues they deepen on existing concerns regarding privacy, trans-
related to interoperability and scalability. parency, accountability, freedom, and fairness in connection
with massive surveillance and data –and algorithmic—bias
(Helbing & Argota Sánchez-Vaquerizo, 2023). Furthermore,
the metaverse in its different implementations can expand
the already existing unrealities that people decide to live
daily (Eco, 1986). As a consequence, it constitutes a tran- same environment in the same way. Each person and social
shumanist escape (Barachini & Stary, 2022) to disregard and group focus, prioritizes, and is affected differently by dif-
ignore the constraints and problems of our physical world ferent components, layouts and features of the city. Even if
(Bojic, 2022; Han et al., 2022; Pal & Arpnikanondt, 2024). the experience of each social group or individual is always
Also, an intense dependence on software makes it vulner- partial in the city, the whole set of urban dwellers identifies
able to the own constraints of how we have created our com- the whole as a single entity. This effortless replicability can
puter-based technology (Leveson, 2012), including security boost the creation of individual versions of an XR leading to
and obsolescence issues (Strickland & Harris, 2022). VR an intense digitization of urban life makes easier to extend
studies have been proven to be useful for applications in spatial segregation and accessibility restrictions to citizens
many fields and tasks (Dubey et al., 2018; Sanchez-Sepul- (Cardullo et al., 2019). Making significant parts of urban life
veda et al., 2019; Whyte & Nikolić, 2018). However, while only accessible through technology may widen existing digi-
advances regarding vision, haptics, and other senses are tal exclusion issues. This would hinder the attempt to cre-
an active field of research, the whole cognitive process of ate a common united identity within a city expanded in the
embodiment and presence may require more sophisticated, digital world. We will face integration, interoperability, and
and potentially more neurologically invasive approaches scalability issues (Cheng et al., 2022) to ensure togetherness.
(Pisarchik et al., 2019), to be able to match the experience Fostering citizen participation is not an automatic fix for
of physical presence. Natural and social conventions that the shortcomings of computational methods, nor for unblack-
exist in the physical world, and the tangibility of people boxing some of these technologies (Sloane et al., 2022). Par-
and goods exchange and ownership need to be redefined by ticipation by itself won’t solve immediately political chal-
code from scratch in virtual environments (Huynh-The et al., lenges related to the prioritization of goals or defining what is
2023; Zwitter et al., 2020). If blockchain would make trust the common good (Zografos et al., 2020), nor the use of digi-
unnecessary for human relations and interactions (Edelman, tal twins will take over the construction of democratic con-
2021), it is the metaverse where it can really flourish, due to sensus despite its power to smooth communication between
the lack of real embodiment. Hacking the physical world is stakeholders (Yamu et al., 2023). Thereby, new and richer
harder and more obvious; humans are more adapted to detect methods for assessing the quality of this digital participation
it. Since it is code-based, it presents easier opportunities for need to be explored and developed (Ataman et al., 2022). Citi-
inconspicuous hacking, affecting the people who inhabit it as zen participation is a key element for sustainable urban devel-
avatars. For instance, it is relatively easy to notice somebody opment (Bouzguenda et al., 2019) and UDTs facilitate the
hiding in our vicinity or some device trying to spy on us, decision-making process by easing the simulation of future
but what happens when the endless data streams needed for scenarios and policies (Mahajan et al., 2022), by making their
defining every single interaction in the digital world can be results more understandable, and by smoothing and enriching
incepted or other identities can be completely camouflaged exchange between stakeholders (Haraguchi et al., 2024). Even
into the environment? What kind of countermeasures should further, these complex cyber-physical systems can perpetu-
be implemented? (Lee et al., 2021; Wang et al., 2023). ate knowledge, agency, and power inequalities. Thereby, it is
Digital doubles, including metaverses, are ultra-plastic needed a socio-technical and participatory perspective in the
and endlessly replicable: everything can be changed, cloned, development of these tools, beyond pure technical feasibil-
and transformed, at a minimal cost. This provides advan- ity, enhancing aspects of trustworthiness and purpose, which
tages for adaptability, diversity, and testing in comparison often require very local and situated knowledge, encompass-
with the tectonic, physical, heavy, and tangible physical ing also organizational culture to reach actionable levels of
environment. However, this flexibility makes metaverses trustworthiness and legitimacy (Bolton et al., 2018; Nochta
require clear rules and procedures for interaction that need et al., 2021). This can ease the challenge of integration and
to be designed to be useful and remain coherent and consist- acceptance of shifts in policymaking. Many of the existing
ent (Hudson-Smith & Batty, 2023). Each representation of a initiatives focusing on marketing, business, and finance may
city within a UDT, with its myriad of alternative scenarios be rendered deceptive due to a poor functional experience
and changes and modifications due to personal preferences, and lack of valuable purpose within these domains beyond
is different, which challenges cohesion and integration. They the initial hype. However, this highlights the opportunity and
may be mirroring only partial aspects of the physical envi- promising value of urban metaverses based on UDTs con-
ronment (Helbing, 2013). They may respond to non-existing ceived as co-creation, exchange, and sharing environments
alternative scenarios to be explored and analyzed. They may oriented to governance, policy, and planning.
be customized variations chosen by individuals to match By now, in the end, the digitalization of the urban realm
their needs. If this multiplicity would not be enough, on a as we have known until now has ended up being very dif-
more fundamental level, each of us does not experience the ferent. Instead of developing bottom-up participatory
approaches to empower people via open-source technology, out of our existing world. It means, decoupling the twin for
it was taken over by corporate, capitalist, and market-driven learning something new. From a technical point of view, hav-
approaches (Greenfield and Kim 2013). This perpetuates ing transferred the idea of digital twins from the mechanistic
power inequalities (Egliston & Carter, 2021) and control manufacturing and spatial engineering worlds to complex
with social consent (Han, 2017). Finally, UDTs, understood urban systems missed the point of externalities, and above
as a technocratic continuation of smart cities, are not quite all, the human factor in it, which involves cultural, social and
there yet regarding community participation (Axelsson psychological aspects hard to account and encode into a digi-
& Granath, 2018), but neither regarding standardization, tal code-based system. What may be valuable is precisely not
interoperability, and scalability (Cheng et al., 2022; Shahat trying to fit a deterministic forecast to complex systems that
et al., 2021). From a societal and cultural point of view, the involve socio-technical factors. In this sense, engaging citizens
outmost question remains about how important, needed or as humans-in-the-loop may be more actionable, powerful, and
even required would be these technologies to live in cities. effective to benefit as many people as possible. Digital twins
Beyond being a nice and convenient add-on to daily life, can be more powerful for their exploratory power for shaping
or being a potential enhancement of social and experien- thinking and helping us to pose questions (Kac, 1969), than
tial segregation, it is yet to be proven if their functionality, for their predictive capabilities for scenarios and operations.
purpose, and trustworthiness can make them fundamental Despite its immense value for inclusive and participatory
components of daily life, marginalizing people who are not governance in cities, and for fostering quality of life and sus-
participating of them (Cardullo et al., 2019). tainability of cities, we need to be aware of the potential risks
of the further development of such systems in immersive XR
environments. The experience of being immersed, interact-
Concluding remarks ing, and sharing leads to urban metaverses, which as any
other technology, may have dual uses. On one hand, it may
This article tries to reframe the concept of UDTs beyond expand the possibilities to explore alternative scenarios that
a purely technical and engineering perspective. It presents may be experienced before being implemented and support
a broad overview of existing examples of UDTs. Some of collective intelligence for more effective policymaking and
them, which are not usually considered as such, may be city planning. Alternatively, it can be used for tokenizing and
even more accomplished implementations of this concept. segregating (even further) cities and societies. Our physi-
As a result, it is possible to map key features of ideal UDTs, cal, built environment will expand through XR. This is an
which are currently present only partially in different cases. opportunity to reflect and respond more effectively to human
From these fragmentary components it is possible to build diversity. At the same time, chances of fostering social divi-
an image of future UDTs. This allows for anticipating posi- siveness will increase with minimal effort.
tive and negative outcomes, particularly in connection with Contrasting with an abundance landscape provided by
citizen participation and human interaction because of the automated multi-purposed AI, human experience will be
possibility of offering multiple interactive and usable urban comparatively more scarce and more valuable over time. The
digital experiences. Although many potential beneficial scalability and reproducibility of software are bidirectional:
effects for better more inclusive and sustainable cities can many different copies, versions, and alternatives of virtual
be expected, it highlights the many risks not only associated environments can be created, in the same way that many
to the usual concerns on privacy, freedom, and fairness com- different versions of augmentations can be done to populate
mon when dealing with big data, but also stress the risk for the same physical environment. However, it is unclear how
increasing societal divide. Hence, it expands the concept to many of us will be sharing these spaces.
human-centric considerations to explore what is missing to
generate benefits for a bigger number of individuals.
Our current UDTs do not fulfill our idealized concept of
Appendix
mirrored representations of our physical world systems with
automated exchange of information. As such, that accomplish-
Characterization of the analyzed examples of Urban
ment would mean that both entities would be merged into a
Digital Twins
single system. On one hand, on a conceptual level, it may be
impossible to have such a system. On the other hand, from a
See Tables 2 and 3
practical perspective, it would be our loss, as one may want
to explore alternative scenarios and possibilities, which are
Table 2 General description of the analyzed examples of interactive, functional and situated Urban Digital Twins
4
Name (and location) Scope Stage Access References Description

Viz GIS Environment Participation Planning Services Immersive
3D Amsterdam (the Neth- X X Deployed WIP Online (City of Amsterdam, City government interactive
erlands) (Work-in- 2020) 3D viewer for exist-
Page 16 of 31
Progress) ing geospatial datasets,

detailed buildings, urban
plans, and perform some
basic environmental
simulation such as sun
lighting
Antwerp Digital Twin X X Deployed WiP Online demo (IMEC, 2018a, b) Prototype of the city gov-
(Belgium) ernment interactive 3D
viewer with dynamic data
integration that allows
for simulating the impact
on traffic, air quality, or
flooding due to disruptive
events
Aspern Smart City X X X X X Deployed Restricted (ASCR, 2015) Management tool for real-
(Vienna, Austria) time urban data and smart
energy utilization in a
newly built district
Barcelona Superblock test X X X Prototype Restricted (Sanchez-Sepulveda et al., Immersive VR prototype
in VR (Spain) 2019) to test how active citizen
participation can be
promoted in the context
of collaborative urban
design
Benidorm Land (Spain) X X X Deployed Online (Six3D & Ayuntamiento Fully VR environment,
de Benidorm, 2023) geometrically accurate
based on the physical city,
to explore, and promote
tourism and online events
Boston 3D Smart Model X X X Deployed WiP Online (Boston Planning & City government interactive
(US) Development Agency, 3D viewer for existing
2018; Yamu et al., 2023) geospatial datasets, to
support and keep track
of planning and urban
design projects and
enhance exchange and
participation
J. Argota Sánchez‑Vaquerizo
Table 2 (continued)
Cambridge CDT (UK) X X X Developed Restricted (Nochta et al., 2021) Introducing socio-tech-
nical approaches in the
development of a specific
urban digital twin to
reach satisfactory levels
of functionality, trust,
and purpose for a local
context
Cities: Skylines (Norra X X X X Deployed WiP Restricted (Pinos et al., 2020) Workshops for citizen
Djurgårdstad, Sweden; participation in urban
Hämeenlinna, Finland; planning through gami-
Olomouc, Czechia; Svit, fication using existing
Slovaquia) game engines
CitySnap (Georgia Tech X X X X Prototype Restricted (Mohammadi et al., 2020) XR application for provid-
Campus, Atlanta, US) ing citizens´ feedback on
the functioning of urban
aspects, sharing, and
visualizing the city´s state
based on crowdsourcing
and sensing data, with a
case study for a university
campus
CUSP (Cardiff, UK) X X X X X Developed Online demo (Boje et al., 2022; Cardiff Decision support platform
Urban Digital Twins and metaverses towards city multiplicities: uniting or dividing urban…
University, 2024) for smart energy use,

monitoring, and optimiza-
tion based on immersive
3D visualization and
semantic data
Dadaocheng in Minecraft X X X X X Developed Restricted (Wang & Vu, 2023) Virtual environment for
(Taiwan) participation in planning
and urban reactivation
through gamification
using existing game
engines
Digital Twin Victoria X X X Deployed Online (Victoria State Govern- Regional interactive 4D
(Australia) ment, 2022) geospatial data viewer,
with data in near real-
time to support improved
decision-making
Page 17 of 31
4
Table 2 (continued)
4

Dubai Metaverse (UAE) X X X Deployed Online (Metaverse Dubai, 2022) Fully VR environment, geo-
metrically accurate virtual
Page 18 of 31
double of the city to

purchase virtual land and
enhance tokenized virtual
economy without a direct
linkage to the real physi-
cal world more than for
linking tokens, marketing,
and business promotion-
related actions
Dublin Docklands (Ire- X X X X Developed Restricted (White et al., 2021) Virtual environment mir-
land) roring a part of the city to
run behavioral user-based
experiments regarding
different interventions in
the urban space: construc-
tion of new buildings,
new green areas, report-
ing issues, flooding, and
crowd acceptance
DUET (Athens, Greece; X X X X WiP Restricted (Raes et al., 2022) Pilots of a scalable archi-
Pilsen, Czechia; Flan- tecture framework able
ders, Belgium) to contain models and
data synchronized with
the mirrored physical
environment and integrate
through APIs different
models to perform what-if
analysis related to traffic,
air quality, or noise pol-
lution
Flood-PREPARED (New- X X Developed (Wolf et al., 2022) A real-time city-wide
castle, UK) sensing system for
precipitation monitoring
to simulate flood hazards
and support multi-agency
emergency management
and coordination
Table 2 (continued)
Georgia Tech Energy X X X Developed Restricted (Xu et al., 2019) VR immersive integrated
Digital Twin (Atlanta, eco-feedback system to
US) interact with real-time
energy consumption on a
university campus
Google Maps (Global) X X Deployed WiP Online (West, 2021) Global privately owned
and accessible mapping
and navigation interactive
platform with real-time
geospatial data integration
that supports a wide vari-
ety of services for data
visualization, analysis,
and simulation
Helsinki 3D (Finland) X X X Developed Online (City of Helsinki, 2019; City government interactive
Ruohomaki et al., 2018) 3D viewer for exist-
ing geospatial datasets,
basic environmental
simulation such as climate
and energy performance
Herrenberg Digital Twin X X X X Developed Restricted (Dembski et al., 2020) Prototype for participatory
(Germany) urban planning in a small

city that included a VR
immersive 3D environ-
ment, diverse geospatial
data, and mobility and
wind flow simulations
Kalatasama Digital Twin X X X X X Developed Restricted (Airaksinen et al., 2019) An open 3D geometrically
(Helsinki, Finland) realistic model for a
district of Helsinki as a
platform for application
development, for interact-
ing with the residents,
to analyze and simu-
late plans, and for new
services, processes, and
practices
Page 19 of 31
4
Table 2 (continued)
4

Madrid Digital Twin X X X X X Deployed WiP Restricted (Ayuntamiento de Madrid, City government platform
(Spain) 2024) that integrated multi-
Page 20 of 31
source and multi-format

data, IoT, and AI for
enhanced urban plan-
ning, public services, and
policymaking, fostering
stakeholder collaboration
and scalable integration
of urban smart applica-
tions
Nancuiping park (China) X X X X Developed Restricted (Luo et al., 2022) Comparison between a
digital twin and a physi-
cal model as a resource
for participatory design
workshop for a park
NSW Spatial Digital Twin X X X Deployed Online (NSW Government, 2022) Regional interactive 4D
(Australia) geospatial data viewer,
with near real-time data
and BIM/CIM integration
capabilities, to support
improved decision-
making
Pasymo (Eberswalde, X X X X Developed WiP Restricted (Priebe et al., 2019) Multiplatform (on desktop
Germany) and VR) academic
research project to
enhance participatory
urban planning capa-
bilities with the use of
advanced data visualiza-
tion and simulation of
alternatives
Pisa Smart Healthy Envi- X X Prototype Restricted (Bacco et al., 2017) IoT ecosystem with fixed
ronment (Italy) and mobile sensors, col-
lecting and processing
geo-referenced environ-
mental data, enhanced
by citizen participatory
sensing and data for
improved urban air qual-
ity and micro-climatic
monitoring
Table 2 (continued)
PLATEAU (Japan) X X X X X X Deployed WiP Online (MLIT, 2023; Seto et al., A nationwide platform for
2023) 3D urban models integrat-
ing data on mobility,
demographics, economy,
and business ready to per-
form advanced simulation
and analyses for planning,
disaster prevention, and
public services
Queensland Digital Twin X X X Deployed WiP Online (Queensland State Gov- Regional interactive 4D
(Australia) ernment & Terria, 2021) geospatial data viewer,
with near real-time data
and BIM/CIM integration
capabilities, to support
improved decision-
making
Rotterdam 3D (the Neth- X X X Deployed WiP Online (Rotterdam, 2021) City government interactive
erlands) 3D viewer for exist-
basic environmental
lighting
Santa Monica Metaverse X X Developed Online app (Allam et al., 2022) AR application, gamifying,
(US) and incentivizing urban
exploration and interac-
tion with the environment
to promote digital and
local economy and trade
Trent Basin (Nottingham, X X X X X Deployed Restricted (IES, 2021; Strielkowski Management tool for real-
UK) et al., 2022) time urban data and smart
energy utilization in a
new urban development
Seoul Metaverse (South X X X X Deployed WiP Online (de Almeida, 2023; Seoul Government-led initiative
Korea) Metropolitan Govern- to recreate the physical
ment, 2023) space in an immersive VR
environment to expand
possibilities of leisure,
Page 21 of 31
cultural events, public

services, and economy
4
activity
Table 2 (continued)
4

SMART Zwolle (the X X X X X Developed WiP (Yamu et al., 2023) City government interactive
Netherlands) platform to report and
Page 22 of 31
aggregate existing geo-

spatial datasets, detailed
buildings, urban plans,
sensing, participatory
initiatives, and monitor
different aspects of urban
life
Toronto Quayside X X X X Discontinued Restricted (Artyushina, 2023; Side- Full algorithmic govern-
(Canada) walk Labs, 2017) ance and policymak-
ing scheme based on
automatic data-driven
processes
Travel Incheon (South X Deployed WiP Online app (Um et al., 2022) Smart tourism metaverse
Korea) with 'AR Incheon' for
augmented reality experi-
ences and 'Incheoncraft'
for immersive virtual
exploration using
Minecraft, blending his-
tory with interactivity
Turin MiraMap (Italy) X X X Developed Restricted (De Filippi et al., 2020) City platform for citizens'
engagement in policy-
making and planning;
to report issues, express
opinions, collect propos-
als, and map and visualize
all these contents
Vienna Stadtplan 3D X X X Developed Online (City of Vienna, 2021; City government interactive
(Austria) Lehner & Dorffner, 3D viewer for exist-
2020) ing geospatial datasets,
basic environmental
lighting
Table 2 (continued)
ViLo – Virtual London X X X X WiP Restricted (Hudson-Smith & Batty, Immersive platform to
(UK) 2023; Hudson-Smith visualize and aggregate
et al., 2022) diverse geospatial data to
foster exchange, analysis,
participation, and explo-
ration of urban plans
Virtual Helsinki (Finland) X X Developed Online (Helsingin kaupunki & VR environment, geo-
VR-Studio Zoan, 2019) metrically accurate and
realistic based on the
physical city, to explore,
and promote tourism and
online events. Also availa-
ble as a Minecraft version
as a gaming environment
Virtual Gothenburg X X X X X WiP Restricted (Stad, 2023) City government interactive
(Sweden) platform to visualize and
aggregate existing geo-
spatial datasets, detailed
buildings, and urban
plans, collect proposals,
and engage citizens in
urban issues, planning,
and policymaking tasks,
while supporting tests

and simulations for these
plans
Virtual Rennes (France) X X X X Developed Restricted (Dassault Systèmes, 2020) City government interactive
3D viewer for exist-
basic environmental
lighting
Page 23 of 31
4
Table 2 (continued)
4

Virtual Singapore X X X X Deployed WiP Restricted (Government of Singa- City government interactive
pore, 2018) 3D viewer for exist-
Page 24 of 31

detailed buildings, and
urban plans, and perform
some disciplinary and
domain-specific simula-
tions such as sun lighting,
mobility, emergency
management, or energy
VU.CITY London (UK) X X X X X Deployed WiP Restricted (VU.CITY, 2021) Viewer for existing geo-
spatial datasets, historical
data, urban analytics for
planning, integration of
new projects and work-
flows for stakeholders
Zurich Digital Twin X X X Deployed WiP Online (Schrotter & Hürzeler, City government interactive
(Switzerland) 2020) 3D viewer for exist-
basic environmental
lighting
Cases are sorted alphabetically

Table 3 Comparative analysis with shared advantages and disadvantages of the considered examples of Urban Digital Twins
Advantages Disadvantages
Automatic feedback and on physical environment (actuators)

Feasible to integrate into current decision-making processes
Opposing existing legal, governance, and societal structures

No automatic feedback to physical reality (no actuators)
Augmenting social activities in virtual environments
Gamification (e.g. serious games, game engines)
Large geographic scope, global, interoperable
Limited exploration of alternative scenarios

Simulation and forecast of future scenarios.
Interactive immersive virtual environment.
In-house development, reserved to experts

No exploration of alternative scenarios
Feedback for reporting and informing
Name (and location) References
Dynamic data (sensing, temporal)
Unclear purpose and benefit

High level of customization
Socio-technical approach
Small geographic scope

Limited customization
Citizens participation
Very specific domain

Scalable and flexible
Accessible interface
Limited interaction
Early development
Functional system
Prototype
Vision
3D Amsterdam (the (City of Amsterdam,
Netherlands) 2020)
Boston 3D Smart (Boston Planning &
Model (US) Development Agency,
2018; Yamu et al., 2023)
Digital Twin Victoria (Victoria State
(Australia) Government, 2022)
Helsinki 3D (Finland) (City of Helsinki, 2019;
Ruohomaki et al., 2018)
Vienna Stadtplan 3D (City of Vienna, 2021;
(Austria) Lehner & Dorffner,
2020)
Zurich Digital Twin (Schrotter & Hürzeler,
(Switzerland) 2020)
Antwerp Digital Twin (IMEC, 2018a,b)
(Belgium)
DUET (Athens, Greece; (Raes et al., 2022)
Pilsen, Czechia;
Flanders, Belgium)
Madrid Digital Twin (Ayuntamiento de
(Spain) Madrid, 2024)
NSW Spatial Digital (NSW Government, 2022)
Twin (Australia)
PLATEAU (Japan) (MLIT, 2023; Seto et al.,
2023)
Queensland Digital (Queensland State
Twin (Australia) Government & Terria,
2021)
Rotterdam 3D (the (Gemeente Rotterdam,
Netherlands) 2021)
Virtual Rennes (Dassault Systèmes,
(France) 2020)
Virtual Singapore (Government of
Singapore, 2018)
Aspern Smart City (ASCR, 2015)
(Vienna, Austria)
CUSP (Cardiff, UK) (Boje et al., 2022;
Cardiff University, 2024)
Georgia Tech Energy (Xu et al., 2019)
Digital Twin (Atlanta,
US)
Trent Basin (IES, 2021; Strielkowski
(Nottingham, UK) et al., 2022)
CitySnap (Georgia (Mohammadi et al.,
Tech Campus, Atlanta, 2020)
US)
Pisa Smart Healthy (Bacco et al., 2017)
Environment (Italy)
Turin MiraMap (Italy) (De Filippi et al., 2020)
Flood-PREPARED (Wolf et al., 2022)
(Newcastle, UK)
Table 3 (continued)
Kalatasama Digital (Airaksinen et al., 2019)
Twin (Helsinki,
Finland)
Nancuiping park (Luo et al., 2022)
(China)
Pasymo (Eberswalde, (Priebe et al., 2019)
Germany)
SMART Zwolle (the (Yamu et al., 2023)
Netherlands)
Barcelona Superblock (Sanchez-Sepulveda et
test in VR (Spain) al., 2019)
Dublin Docklands (White et al., 2021)
(Ireland)
Herrenberg Digital (Dembski et al., 2020)
Twin (Germany)
ViLo – Virtual London (Andrew Hudson-Smith
(UK) et al., 2022; Andy
Hudson-Smith & Batty,
2023)
Virtual Gothenburg (Göteborgs Stad, 2023)
(Sweden)
Virtual Helsinki (Helsingin kaupunki &
(Finland) VR-Studio Zoan, 2019)
VU.CITY London (UK) (VU.CITY, 2021)
Benidorm Land (Spain) (Six3D & Ayuntamiento
de Benidorm, 2023)
Dubai Metaverse (Metaverse Dubai, 2022)
(UAE)
Santa Monica (Allam et al., 2022)
Metaverse (US)
Seoul Metaverse (South (de Almeida, 2023;
Korea) Seoul Metropolitan
Government, 2023)
Travel Incheon (South (Um et al., 2022)
Korea)
Cities: Skylines (Norra (Pinos et al., 2020)
Djurgårdstad, Sweden;
Hämeenlinna, Finland;
Olomouc, Czechia;
Svit, Slovaquia)
Dadaocheng in (S. Wang & Vu, 2023)
Minecraft (Taiwan)
Cambridge CDT (UK) (Nochta et al., 2021)
Google Maps (Global) (West, 2021)
Toronto Quayside (Artyushina, 2023;
(Canada) Sidewalk Labs, 2017)
Opposing existing legal, governance, and societal structures

Socio-technical approach
Feasible to integrate into current decision-making processes
Scalable and flexible
Unclear purpose and benefit

Dynamic data (sensing, temporal)
Citizens participation
Automatic feedback and on physical environment (actuators)
Limited customization
No exploration of alternative scenarios
Vision
Prototype
Accessible interface
Large geographic scope, global, interoperable
Augmenting social activities in virtual environments
No automatic feedback to physical reality (no actuators)
In-house development, reserved to experts
Small geographic scope
Very specific domain

Interactive immersive virtual environment.
Simulation and forecast of future scenarios.
Feedback for reporting and informing
Functional system
Limited exploration of alternative scenarios

Limited interaction
Early development
High level of customization
Gamification (e.g. serious games, game engines)
Advantages Disadvantages
Examples are sorted based on their similarities following the analysis in Section Examples of Urban Digital Twins
Acknowledgements The author acknowledge financial support from Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attri-
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Technology Zurich. included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated
otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in Batty, M. (2024). Digital twins in city planning. Nature Compu-
the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not tational Science, 4(3), 192–199. https:// d oi. o rg/ 1 0. 1 038/
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need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a Batty, M., Axhausen, K. W., Giannotti, F., Pozdnoukhov, A., Bazzani, A.,
copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Wachowicz, M., Ouzounis, G., & Portugali, Y. (2012). Smart cities
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Ethics and Information Technology (2025) 27:4

Urban Digital Twins and metaverses towards city multiplicities: uniting

Accepted: 29 October 2024

Name (and location) Scope Stage Access References Description

Progress) ing geospatial datasets,

University, 2024) for smart energy use,

Name (and location) Scope Stage Access References Description

double of the city to

(Germany) urban planning in a small

Name (and location) Scope Stage Access References Description

source and multi-format

cultural events, public

Name (and location) Scope Stage Access References Description

aggregate existing geo-

while supporting tests

Name (and location) Scope Stage Access References Description

ing geospatial datasets,

Cases are sorted alphabetically

Automatic feedback and on physical environment (actuators)

Opposing existing legal, governance, and societal structures

Large geographic scope, global, interoperable

Limited exploration of alternative scenarios

Interactive immersive virtual environment.

In-house development, reserved to experts

Dynamic data (sensing, temporal)

Unclear purpose and benefit

Small geographic scope

Very specific domain

Opposing existing legal, governance, and societal structures

Unclear purpose and benefit

Automatic feedback and on physical environment (actuators)

No exploration of alternative scenarios

Large geographic scope, global, interoperable

Augmenting social activities in virtual environments

No automatic feedback to physical reality (no actuators)

In-house development, reserved to experts

Small geographic scope

Very specific domain

Feedback for reporting and informing

Limited exploration of alternative scenarios

Gamification (e.g. serious games, game engines)

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