Imagine you live in a city. You walk out of the front door of your apartment building, searching for a place to throw out your apple core, before catching a subway to go across town to work. The first bin you see is locked and has a flashing light, both signs indicating it’s full. As you’re searching for another nearby one, you see a garbage truck coming down the street – that flashing light and lock mechanism sent an alert that the trash needs to be emptied. Making your way to the subway, you see the platform is packed, but you don’t worry about squeezing into the first train that shows up since the digital sign indicates another one will be coming by two minutes later. It’s rush hour, of course, and the train’s schedule is dynamically designed to accommodate as many passengers as possible.
That kind of city isn’t just an idea – it’s something that could very easily be a reality. It’s what’s often known as a smart city, and in some places, elements of smart cities already exist. The key to developing them or implementing smart city solutions is based on adopting emerging technologies, and increasingly, virtual twins are being favored by city planners, urban developers and government officials all around the globe. By blending the physical and virtual worlds, these shapers of the future are able to visualize, analyze, plan and optimize cities to make them more livable.
What are smart cities and virtual twins?
A smart city leverages technology like big data, IoT and even sometimes virtual reality to create more efficient, inclusive and sustainable urban areas. They’re more than just data-driven urban areas, though. According to the World Economic Forum, smart cities “[use] technology to efficiently engage citizens and meet their needs.” Smart cities make the most of available technology and information to ensure not only that sustainable solutions are implemented across the board, but that such solutions make the best use of time, energy, information, manpower and more and serve their communities as precisely as possible. As artificial intelligence continues to develop, it too is increasingly layered into existing and rapidly changing technologies to make them even smarter. But even with robust data streams, the interconnectedness and complexity of urban systems often demand an advanced analytical and predictive tool. That’s where virtual twins come in.
A virtual twin is a digital representation of a physical item or space, inclusive of all the processes and connections between them that make up an entire environment. Because they’re context-rich, they not only mirror the current state of a city, but also allow simulations of “what-if” scenarios to guide urban planners in development and decision-making.
The role of virtual twins in smart city development
Cities today are already making use of the emerging technologies that dominate the digital landscape: artificial intelligence, big data, IoT sensors and even virtual reality.
Say a city is struggling with traffic congestion in a particular neighborhood on weekday afternoons. By collecting data on traffic flows through IoT sensors, it’s possible to make a number of changes to ease the congestion. Traffic light settings can be automatically adjusted, public transport offerings can be ramped up or changed and, as is becoming more common, fines could be levied on cars entering certain areas at certain times of day. By implementing those theoretical scenarios into a virtual twin, a city planner can understand the impact of every one of those changes both independently and collectively. An adjustment like this also gives way to more sustainable outcomes: one 2022 study found that traffic congestion alone in London was responsible for 2.2 megatons of CO2 emissions. It’s also a boon for public safety, as congestion is known to cause accidents.
But traffic patterns are just one example – in an urban environment, there are thousands of pieces of infrastructure that data can be collected on, analyzed and changed accordingly. Using technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence, it’s possible to identify trends and shifts immediately, and mapping those potential changes in a virtual model enables the agility necessary to adapt on the fly. A unified, secure space like the 3DEXPERIENCE platform gives urban planners and city officials the ability to collaborate across departments to ensure the data they’re tracking and the solutions they’re weighing or implementing is available to all.
The benefits of optimizing critical infrastructure
Virtual twins are transforming the way smart cities are planned and managed, turning theoretical models into practical, data-driven solutions. Imagine real-time water management that not only monitors usage but also predicts demand, ensuring resources are used efficiently. These kinds of valuable insights make it possible for cities like Copenhagen to use virtual twins to optimize water distribution, prevent wastage and reduce the risk of flooding. It’s not just about conserving water; it’s about building a more sustainable and resilient future.
The use of virtual twins in urban planning goes beyond theoretical modeling, offering actionable, data-driven optimizations for infrastructure management. In traffic and mobility management, virtual twins enable real-time traffic monitoring and predictive modeling to reduce congestion. In some places, this technology is used to simulate and improve public transport routes, cutting down traffic bottlenecks and carbon footprints.
For utility and energy optimization, digital models analyze consumption patterns across neighborhoods to identify inefficiencies, optimize renewable resource deployment and support sustainability goals while lowering costs for both operators and residents. In water and waste management, virtual twins incorporate real-time water usage data and predictive flooding models to enhance resource allocation and emergency preparedness, while also optimizing waste management routines by tracking consumption and disposal patterns. Urban planning also benefits significantly, as cities can simulate disaster scenarios like flooding or earthquakes to develop effective response strategies. Helsinki’s “Hot Heart” project, for example, uses virtual twins to optimize heat storage, ensuring resilience against extreme weather changes.
Which cities already have virtual twins?
From Singapore to France, some urban planners are already making their cities smarter by using virtual twins. By integrating modeling and simulation technologies, urban developers are able to make informed decisions, backed by reams of data that reflects reality better than surveys or human monitoring ever could.
Singapore
Singapore is often seen as the global gold standard for smart cities. The nation’s Virtual Singapore platform, created through the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, encompasses interactive 3D digital twins of its entire urban landscape. Using laser-scanning aircraft and IoT data, this platform integrates real-time insights on infrastructure, population movements and environmental factors. Urban planners use this virtual replica to test disaster preparedness strategies, optimize land use and improve flood management systems. For example, the model helps identify flood-prone areas and simulate evacuation routes, aiding government agencies and emergency services in making data-driven decisions. Virtual Singapore not only supports long-term resilience but also fosters collaboration across public sectors, researchers and businesses to create a more adaptable and inclusive urban environment.
São Paulo, Brazil
One of the most densely populated cities in the world, São Paulo has implemented a digital twin to improve disaster response and management. The virtual model incorporates data from weather sensors, satellite imagery and social media feeds to create real-time visualizations of potential hazards like flooding or landslides. This allows emergency responders to quickly identify at-risk areas and coordinate rescue efforts. The city also uses the digital twin for long-term planning, predicting future risks and identifying areas for improvement.
Rennes, France
Meanwhile, Rennes offers a compelling example of using virtual twins for green space optimization. Through the 3DEXPERIENCity Virtual Rennes platform by Dassault Systèmes, urban planners in the city leveraged virtual twins to create a detailed inventory and simulation of the city’s greenery, including data on tree age, type and location. This data helped identify areas for expanding green spaces, improving air quality and reducing urban heat islands. Additionally, the platform aided in strategic decision-making by simulating environmental impacts, such as the placement of new parks and vegetation to counteract urban sprawl. Rennes’ innovative use of virtual twins underscores the technology’s potential to drive more sustainable urban design while improving the quality of life for its inhabitants.
The benefits of optimizing critical infrastructure
Virtual twins are transforming the way smart cities are planned and managed, turning theoretical models into practical, data-driven solutions. Imagine real-time water management that not only monitors usage but also predicts demand, ensuring resources are used efficiently. That’s exactly what cities like Copenhagen are achieving—using virtual twins to optimize water distribution, prevent waste and reduce the risk of flooding. It’s not just about conserving water; it’s about building a more sustainable and resilient future.
In that same vein, emerging technologies can be handily leveraged to prioritize sustainability in all kinds of infrastructure projects.
AI-powered systems can analyze vast amounts of data collected from IoT devices embedded throughout the city. For instance, smart energy grids can use this data to optimize electricity distribution, reducing waste and shifting power to where and when it’s needed most. IoT sensors in buildings can monitor energy usage in real time, allowing adjustments to heating, cooling and lighting systems to minimize consumption. A virtual twin of a proposed building can indicate suggestions for architectural decisions that would take into account natural airflow, wind patterns and shadows, decreasing dependency on CO2-emitting HVAC systems from the get-go. These innovations not only lower carbon footprints but also save costs for residents and businesses, making sustainability both environmentally and economically viable and technologically possible.
Virtual twins further enhance the ability to achieve sustainable urban development. By simulating urban systems, virtual twins allow city planners to model the impact of new infrastructure projects or policy changes before they are implemented. This reduces the risk of costly mistakes and ensures that each decision supports long-term environmental goals. Additionally, virtual twins can predict wear and tear on infrastructure, enabling proactive maintenance that extends the lifespan of critical systems like transportation networks or water pipelines. Together, AI, IoT sensors and virtual twins create a connected urban ecosystem that is not only smart but also resilient and sustainable, paving the way for cities that thrive without compromising future generations.
Building smart, connected and sustainable cities for the future
As more cities adopt the smart city based on the virtual twins model, the benefits ripple beyond efficiency and cost savings. Virtual twins allow for inclusive urban planning, proactive maintenance and even a stronger sense of community. There are use cases for urban virtual twins to manage not just infrastructure projects, but citizen engagement, too; by providing an interactive and accessible platform, city officials can glean input from residents and make policy changes that reflect public opinion. Sustainability, too, takes a front seat, as virtual twins empower environmentally-conscious decisions to be taken at every step of the planning, simulation, modeling and execution phases of development.
Digital transformation through virtual twins makes decision-making more informed, enabling urban planning that considers all critical aspects of city governance—from public safety to critical infrastructure and beyond. Smart cities are the future, and for some urban areas, that future is rapidly arriving.
Shoshana is a Senior Communications Manager on the Corporate Publishing team here at Dassault Systèmes. With experience in journalism, marketing, and PR, her work has been published around the world and across the internet.