Exploring Potential Use Cases and Barriers for Digital Twin Usage in Socially Sustainable Urban Planning

Sammanfattning

Faced with urbanisation and environmental concerns, cities of various sizes have in recent years taken action towards becoming smart and sustainable. Discussions on economic, environmental, and social sustainability dimensions have gained prominence across various domains, including urban planning. In relation, interest in Urban Digital Twins (UDT) has grown, and this especially with its potential for real-time data representation in virtual environments. Indeed, cities are investing in research initiatives, and several practical implementations are currently exploring the use of UDTs for smart mobility planning, infrastructure monitoring and management, and energy optimisation towards environmental sustainability. Greatly underexplored, however, is the potential use of UDTs for promoting social sustainability. The present study thus aims to explore how working professionals involved in urban planning perceive opportunities for UDTs to be used in fostering socially sustainable development. Importance is moreover placed on identifying potential barriers in considering social sustainability in the UDT. With these aims, focus groups with working professionals are used to mirror the collaborative nature of urban planning. A thematic analysis is moreover performed to categorise findings into relevant themes, whereafter semi-structured interviews with external key informants are utilised to reflect on the opinions of professionals and increase thematic understanding. Based on the findings, a number of proposals are made with regards to opportunities for UDT usage to support socially sustainable planning. Barriers to the application of UDTs in this specific use case are moreover specified.