Digital twins in city planning.

Abstract

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