Technical Report 287, c4e-Preprint Series, Cambridge

Authors: Hou Yee Quek, Franziska Sielker*, Markus Kraft, Jethro Akroyd, Amit Bhave, Aurel von Richthofen, Pieter Herthogs, Claudia Yamu, Li Wan, Timea Nochta, Gemma Burgess, Mei Qi Lim, Sebastian Mosbach, and VSK Murthy Balijepalli

Reference: Technical Report 287, c4e-Preprint Series, Cambridge, 2021

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In the ongoing pursuit for smarter cities, city administrations are confronted by a challenge to manage the rapid and fragmented technological developments. The latest developments of urban digital twins further contributes to this complexity. This paper suggests that in order to truly reap the benefits of digital twins, city administrations must consciously acknowledge these rapid technology advances and their poor interoperability and compatibility. Bringing together experiences from five research projects, this paper discusses the variety of digital twins based on two common digital integration methodologies – systems and semantic integration. We revisit the nature of the different underlying technologies, discussing the subsequent implications for interoperability and compatibility in the context of planning processes and smart city goals. We suggest that considering the technological dimension as a new addition to the trifecta of economic, environmental and social sustainability goals that guide planning processes, can help governments to address this conundrum of fragmentation, interoperability and compatibility.

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