Transforming Urban Development with Digital Twins
Tuesday, 25 March 2025
Jakarta Investment Centre
1 month
The rapid pace of urbanization has emerged as a critical global challenge, influencing economic, social, and environmental dimensions of development. The World Urbanization Prospects (2018) report indicates that approximately 55% of the global population currently resides in urban areas, with this proportion expected to increase to 68% by 2050. This demographic trajectory aligns with the findings of Dubberke and Kehl (2020), who highlight the strategic role of cities in advancing sustainable development and driving human-centred digital transformation. As urban populations expand, projections indicate that by 2030, over 60% of the world's population will inhabit cities, with estimates for 2050 expected to range between 68% and 75%.
Furthermore, if urbanization is not managed effectively, it can widen inequalities and increase the risk of environmental crisis. To tackle these challenges, a sustainable approach is crucial, using eco-friendly technology, better urban planning, and policies that ensure social and economic inclusion. In this context, technological advancements are essential in shaping more efficient and resilient cities. Among these innovations, the digital twin has emerged as a powerful tool for urban development these days. The digital twin is a digital replica of a physical object, person, system, or process, contextualized within a digital version of its environment (McKinsey, 2024). Similarly, a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (2022) highlights that a digital twin can also be linked to a virtual model of a physical object by integrating real-time data, mathematical models, and Artificial Intelligence, allowing it to function dynamically and accurately represent its physical counterpart.
While digital twins are powerful tools for urban development, their full potential can only be realized when combined with advanced intelligence that is capable of processing information efficiently and predicting urban challenges. According to Xu et al. (2024), this transformation has reshaped the management of various urban subsystems through AI-powered digital twins, creating a new paradigm for urban development. AI-powered digital twins can analyse vast amounts of data, enhance real-time decision-making, and optimize city management. This advancement not only enables smarter planning and more effective responses to urban challenges but also promotes sustainable and inclusive development.
The AI-powered digital twins have potential applications across various sectors. In urban planning and management, AI can analyse data from digital twins to optimize city layouts, traffic flow, energy consumption, and environmental sustainability, enabling more data-driven planning and improving efficiency for urban planners. In disaster simulation and response, AI-powered digital twins can simulate disasters such as floods and earthquakes, facilitating improved mitigation strategies and enabling faster emergency responses, potentially saving lives and resources. In traffic and transportation systems, AI-driven digital twins can enhance transportation efficiency, reduce congestion, and improve air quality. Lastly, in real estate and development, investors and property developers can use digital twins to simulate urban changes before projects are realized, allowing for a more comprehensive evaluation of environmental, investment, and economic impacts while mitigating risks in the development process (Yan et al., 2023).
As cities worldwide acknowledge the transformative potential of AI-powered digital twins, their implementation is expanding across various sectors, including urban planning, infrastructure management, and sustainability efforts. A notable example of this advancement is Singapore, which has developed an extensive 3D digital twin of the entire city (VP, 2024), known as Virtual Singapore. By integrating real-time data, the platform provides policymakers and city planners with advanced tools for future analysis, simulation, and planning to be able to assess the impact of future development. Meanwhile, in Rotterdam, Netherlands, a city known for being below sea level, a digital twin is being used to manage flood risk (Viridis Initiative, 2024). Known as Digital Twin Rotterdam, the platform allows planners to test various flood defense strategies to mitigate flooding while also integrating water plazas that serve as public spaces during dry weather and as flood storage basins during heavy rains. Beyond flood risk management, digital twins are also transforming urban planning through enhanced public engagement. In Helsinki, the digital twin facilitates citizen participation, allowing residents to visualize and provide input on urban development projects before they begin (Malcom, 2024). The implementation of digital twins in these cities enhances urban development by providing planners with valuable insights, improving disaster management, and optimizing public services.
With digital twin technology increasingly being adopted worldwide, Indonesia also recognizes its potential to tackle urban challenges and drive sustainable development, especially in urban planning. A significant application of this technology can be seen in the development of the new capital city, Nusantara (Suhandoko, 2025). In this project, digital twins are used to design transportation infrastructure with greater precision, ensuring efficiency and sustainability. This digital twin technology also aligns with the blueprint of Nusantara Smart City, which explores the integration of digital twins into the smart city ecosystem in Nusantara (Nusantara Capital City Authority, 2023).
The potential for using digital twins in Jakarta is immense, as the city can adopt its existing digital infrastructure to drive innovation. Digital twins can enhance urban planning, optimize resource management, and improve public services by integrating real-time data, advanced analytics, and simulation capabilities. This will enable more efficient decision-making in areas such as transportation, disaster mitigation, and environmental sustainability. For example, the implementation of digital twins in Jakarta could simulate flooding scenarios using historical and real-time data to help prevent floods. Another potential use of digital twins could be to help ease traffic congestion by simulating multiple scenarios. This innovation would strengthen the city's resilience to climate change, improve the effectiveness of disaster mitigation, and attract investment in urban infrastructure and technology sectors, contributing to smarter and more sustainable urban governance.
To conclude, AI-powered digital twins are transforming urban development, driving smarter governance, enhancing infrastructure efficiency, and strengthening resilience against environmental challenges. As global cities increasingly adopt these innovations, Jakarta has the opportunity to harness this technology to accelerate its urban transformation, attract investment, and align with global city standards. By adopting digital twins, cities can optimize resource management, mitigate environmental risks, and build more liveable, resilient communities, ensuring they continue to evolve and adapt to future challenges.
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