Devising Digital Twins DNA Paradigm for Modeling ISO-Based City Services.

Area of Science:

• Smart Cities
• Digital Twins Technology
• Urban Planning

Background:

• Digital twins (DTs) offer potential for sustainable smart cities.
• A unified model for city services is lacking, hindering interoperability and DT development.
• Existing models do not capture unique city characteristics or facilitate cross-city comparisons.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce the DT-DNA model for city services digital twins.
• To ensure interoperability and capture city-specific characteristics for DTs.
• To enhance citizens' quality of life (QoL) by modeling city services.

Main Methods:

• Developed the DT-DNA model based on ISO 37120 international standard.
• Created DT-DNA sequences for Quebec City and Boston services.
• Utilized a DNA alignment tool to compare city service DT-DNA sequences.

Main Results:

• DT-DNA sequences for Quebec City and Boston showed 46.5% identity.
• Ground truth comparisons corroborated the alignment tool's findings.
• A novel algorithm for city comparison based on DT-DNA was proposed and tested.

Conclusions:

• The DT-DNA model provides a proof-of-concept for digital twin frameworks in smart cities.
• The model facilitates direct comparison of city services and performance.
• Boston demonstrates superior city services compared to Quebec City in enhancing citizen QoL.