Digital Twins: Design, Computation, and Digital Transformation of the Built Environment: Volume 2

Smart cities are increasingly recognized as urban environments where decision-making processes are driven by data acquisition and analysis. Central to this evolution is the concept of 'digital twins,' digital replicas of cities that utilize sensor-derived information to facilitate more informed decision-making, making cities more intelligent and efficient. Digitalization and computing technologies thus play a pivotal role in the evolution of such smart environments. These two concepts are profoundly interconnected, sharing the objective to enhance the efficiency and intelligence of built environments and global urban spaces. Despite this connection, there is a noticeable paucity of research that combines these concepts and their developmental impact on urban infrastructure.

This Research Topic aims to bridge this gap by collecting papers focused on computation and applied mathematics that demonstrate recent advancements towards realizing digital twins in civil and construction projects within increasingly digitalized contexts. The digital transformation of smart cities, building construction, and infrastructural projects necessitates addressing interdisciplinary hurdles specific to civil engineering, with particular attention paid to construction, transportation, infrastructure, remote sensing, and other aspects of the built environment. Contributions may include empirical research, analytical studies, and case studies highlighting these challenges and technological achievements.

To gather further insights into the computational advancements and challenges associated with digital twins, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Design computation and applied mathematics

• Digital transformation case studies and theoretical frameworks

• Industry readiness and adoption of emerging technologies

• Automation and integration of robotics in smart cities

• Data science methodologies and visualization techniques

• Sensing technologies and information systems innovations

• Implementation of digital twins in infrastructure and transportation

• Exploration of novel technologies for digital twin adaptation

• Performance metrics and evaluation of digital twins in construction

• Data analytics and visualization strategies for digital twins

• Development of digital twin concepts for cities, citizens, and other urban elements

• Formulation of strategic roadmaps for digital twins

• BIM and GIS applications in digital twin environments

• As-built modeling technologies advancing smart cities

• IoT platforms supporting digital twin ecosystems

• Enhanced data analysis for precise 3D urban modeling

• Semantic modeling innovations for Smart City digital twins

• Artificial intelligence applications in digital twin technology

• Knowledge discovery in the context of smart city digital twins

We also encourage submissions of original research, review articles, case studies, and theoretical frameworks to enrich this Research Topic.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Digital Technology, Smart City, City Analytics, Construction Analytics, Urban Informatics, GIS, BIM, IOT, Sensing Technology, Digital Built Environment, AI

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.