Trend Digital twins of cities and territories to test public policy before acting

Summary

The report observes that until now it was impossible to gauge precisely the consequences of major public interventions such as pedestrianising a main avenue, burying a railway or building a new neighbourhood. It expects that before long, making real-world decisions without first testing them virtually will be unthinkable. Spaces, cities and territories can have digital twins, virtual models built by combining the Internet of Things and AI that simulate how their real counterparts behave, allowing problems to be anticipated and solutions tried out. First conceived to replicate physical reality, they are now used to manage cities and territories as a whole and to run resources and transport networks more efficiently. They also serve to pilot which policies work best against socio-economic problems such as pollution, spatial segregation or housing access. The report stresses, however, that twins must be designed ethically so that data and algorithms do not widen existing divides.