Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Critical urban informatics for urban digital twin models

The global proliferation of urban digital twin models compels a research agenda that investigates the intertwined social, political, and technical dimensions of their development, from design to use in planning and governance.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Three core research areas in UDTMs.

References

  1. Alva, P., Biljecki, F. & Stouffs, R. Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci. XLVIII-4/W4-2022, 5–12 (2022).

  2. Pan, H., Geertman, S. & Deal, B. Env. Planning B Urban Anal. City Sci. 47, 1317–1325 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Malleson, N., Franklin, R., Arribas-Bel, D., Cheng, T. & Birkin, M. Env. Planning B Urban Anal. City Sci. 51, 1181–1186 (2024).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Batty, M. Nat. Comp. Sci. 4, 192–199 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Wang, Z. in Industry 4.0—Impact on Intelligent Logistics and Manufacturing (ed. Bányai, T. & Petrillo, A. & De Felice, F.) https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.80974 (Intechopen, 2020).

  6. Grieves, M. Virtually Perfect: Driving Innovative and Lean Products Through Product Lifecycle Management (Space Coast Press, 2011).

  7. Lotfi-Jam, F. in The Routledge Handbook of Architecture, Urban Space and Politics Vol. I (eds Bobic, N. & Haghigi, F.) 479–495 (Routledge, 2022).

  8. Masoumi, H., Shirowzhan, S., Eskandarpour, P. & Pettit, C. J. Big Earth Data 7, 1–36 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Charitonidou, M. Int. J. Architec. Comp. 20, 238–253 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Clemen, T. et al. Proc. 2021 ACM SIGSIM Conf. Principles Adv. Discrete Simul. 45–55 (Assoc. Comp. Machinery, 2021).

  11. White, G., Zink, A., Codecá, L. & Clarke, S. Cities 110, 103064 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Dembski, F., Wössner, U., Letzgus, M., Ruddat, M. & Yamu, C. Sustainability 12, 2307 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Nochta, T., Wan, L., Schooling, J. M. & Parlikad, A. K. J. Urban Technol. 28, 263–287 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Iliadis, A. & Russo, F. Big Data Soc. 3, https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951716674238 (2016).

  15. Foth, M. Smart Sustainable Built Env. 7, 4–19 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chaewon Ahn.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Cities thanks Viviana Angely Bastidas Melo and Soheil Sabri for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ahn, C., Lotfi-Jam, F., Graham, C. et al. Critical urban informatics for urban digital twin models. Nat Cities 2, 114–116 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-024-00171-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-024-00171-0

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing AI and Robotics

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: AI and Robotics newsletter — what matters in AI and robotics research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: AI and Robotics