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What is The Future for Cities?Author: Fanni Melles
WTF for Cities? is a platform to introduce and connect people who are actively and consciously working on the future of cities and to introduce research about the future of cities. Language: en Genres: Science, Social Sciences Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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449R_Cities aren’t rocket engines: The maturity of digital twins in human-centred urban planning
Episode 449
Monday, 27 July, 2026
Are you interested in how to utilise digital twins in human-centred urban planning? Debate of the article titled Cities aren’t rocket engines: The maturity of digital twins in human-centred urban planning from 2025, by Lucas van der Meer, Lukas Esterle, Mario Cools, and Martin Loidl, published in the International Journal of Digital Earth.This is a great preparation to our next panel conversation with Micah Gaudet, Ana Maria Bustamante Durante and Balamurugan Soundararaj in episode 450 talking about the challenges of data and digital twin use in urban governance. Since we are investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see how the urban mechanism of data and urban vitalism of human experiences can be connected. This article advocates for a human-centred approach where digital tools serve as a lens to explore possibilities rather than an objective truth to dictate outcomes.Find the article through this link.Abstract: In this article we provide a critical perspective on the role of urban digital twins in human-centred urban planning. We discuss the underlying philosophical views of these two concepts and argue that urban digital twins can only have real value if we facilitate a dialogue between those views. This means that we should move beyond purely technological approaches focused on automated optimization and control. Rather than as an objective source of truth, urban digital twins should be treated as a lens through which we can explore urban issues, while acknowledging the assumptions and oversights of computational models. We propose a revised conceptual structure of a mature urban digital twin, in which active human involvement is an asset rather than a limitation, and define seven additional characteristics of maturity besides being technologically advanced: adaptive, constructive, diverse, honest, humble, responsible, and transparent. Ultimately, we call for a shift from ‘data-driven’ to ‘data-informed’ urban planning, arguing that the true value of digital technologies lies not in replacing human agency, but in supporting it.Connected episodes you might be interested in:No.140R - Creating digital twins to save our citiesNo.141 - Interview with Soheil Sabri about urban digital twinsYou can find the transcript through this link.What was the most interesting part for you? What questions did arise for you? Let me know on Twitter @WTF4Cities or on the wtf4cities.com website where the shownotes are also availableI hope this was an interesting episode for you and thanks for tuning inEpisode generated with Descript assistance (affiliate link)Music by Lesfm from Pixabay
