The focus on human needs and the way we organise our lives in the built environment has received new-found attention by urban planners seeking to make our cities better and more liveable through public engagement, open dialoque and true co-creation.

Concurrently, it has been argued that turning the focus away from the technical advancements and concentrating on the needs of the users, the citizens, creates also a solid base for innovation. Here, modern design and simulation tools help to express and explain our city development in great detail via digital twins in a way that is understandable by anyone – making everyone capable of participating in urban planning.

In addition to general analysis tools, game engine-based applications have become favourites of modern urban planners looking to create more engaging methods for public interaction. With the help of these cloud-based solutions, accurate real-world 3D content (such as photogrammetry, terrain, imagery, and 3D buildings data) captured from cameras, sensors, drones, and smart machines is unlocked for use in urban planning processes. Thus, urban planners are capable to design the environments with high-resolution content and then collect and analyse the data they want in a 3D world.

The benefits of digital twins are becoming increasingly apparent in smart urban design as these tools also increase efficiency and data-driven decision making. With knowledge, we can understand our movement and behaviour, to create a more sustainable environment and anticipate the future.