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Urban synthetic data has emerged as a transformative tool for planning research, yet its full potential remains constrained by an overwhelming focus on physical spaces and object recognition. Current digital twin analysis prioritizes built environments over human interactions, while privacy concerns in social media-based behavioral studies limit reproducibility. This commentary argues for a paradigm shift—one that integrates human vibrancy into urban synthetic data approaches to foster human-centered digital twins. By addressing key challenges of privacy, reproducibility, and technical feasibility, human-centered synthetic data can redefine urban informatics, bridging the gap between digital representations and lived urban experiences.
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Digital twins in urban informatics
Abstract Urban informatics appears to be a suitable area for the application of digital twins. Definitions of the term share some characteristics, but these definitions do not agree on what exactly constitutes a digital twin. The term has the potential to be misleading unless adequate attention is paid to the inherent uncertainty in any replica of a real system. The question of uncertainty is addressed, together with some of the issues that make its quantification problematic. Digital twins for urban informatics pose questions of purpose, governance, and ethics. In the final section the paper suggests some research issues that will need to be addressed if digital twins are to be successful.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2117455
- PAR ID:
- 10540190
- Publisher / Repository:
- Urban Informatics
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Urban Informatics
- Volume:
- 3
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2731-6963
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s44212-024-00048-6
