Abstract Summary
With increased urbanization and the impacts of climate change, cities around the world are making resilience-building a priority. Simultaneously, advances in technology have enabled the creation of City Digital Twins (CDTs). Informed by a literature review and interviews with resilience and Digital Twin experts, this research explores how CDTs might support the development of more resilient urban communities. First, this presentation will explore the wide ranging definitions of urban resilience, smart cities and CDTs, and how the conceptualization of such topics varies between academia and practice. Second, the presentation will outline findings on how characteristics of CDTs make them uniquely equipped to facilitate (1) a better understanding of complex phenomena, (2) the imagination of possible futures and (3) collaboration between stakeholders. Finally, the technical requirements and challenges of CDT implementation will be discussed, including (1) identifying priority hazards and users, (2) collecting and managing data, (3) integrating different models and (4) ensuring usability. The research emphasizes the important role of stakeholders in shaping CDTs that can be successfully integrated by the communities they serve. In preparing the presentation for "Blueprints for messy cities?," the results and discussion from the paper will be explored from a critical lens, focusing on the importance of developing technology that reflects its inhabitants. The goal of this session is to discuss the challenges of digitalisation in the context of messy, living, changing cities. How might CDTs contribute to enhanced environmental resilience without sacrificing crucial social resilience through digital dependence? In what ways could CDTs foster meaningful participatory planning? What opportunities and challenges arise in urban design and planning practice? These questions will be explored through existing examples from practice and academia, and via imaginative scenarios, with a view to to inspire meaningful and critical engagement with this emerging urban planning tool.
