From 3D Models to Forecasts: How Digital Twins Help Develop Megacities
As part of the business program of the 2nd Global Digital Forum, taking place from October 8 to 10 at the Mechta venue in Moscow’s Gorky Park, a panel discussion titled “The City in 3D: How Digital Twins Are Transforming Urban Life” was held.
Participants discussed how 3D models can help develop urban environments and manage infrastructure. The session was supported by the Moscow Government and moderated by Evgeny Kuznetsov, CEO of Orbita Capital Partners.
There are now more than 1,200 digital twins of cities and regions around the world. They make it possible to combine vast amounts of data and use it for a wide range of tasks, from construction planning to environmental monitoring. Experts see the next stage of development as being closely linked to the integration of AI.
Moscow has extensive experience in this area. Ekaterina Pitel, Head of the Digital Twin Development and Data Analytics Office at the Department of Information Technologies of Moscow, said work on the system began in 2019 with a photogrammetric model. Today, the digital twin includes more than 9,000 data layers covering construction projects, engineering and transportation networks, urban landscaping and underground infrastructure.
The photogrammetric model is created using ground and aerial imagery, including lidar data. The data is processed with software developed at the request of the Moscow Government and then supplemented with information about specific urban facilities. According to the expert, more than 2,000 decisions at the mayoral level have been made using the system, while some urban planning processes have been reduced from several months to just a few hours.
Other megacities are following a similar path in their digital development. Simon Xian, Head of Urban Planning and International Cooperation Coordinator at the Urban Planning & Design Institute of Shenzhen, said the city began using 3D models as early as the 1990s. In 2022, China adopted a national strategy for using 3D models in the development of cities and settlements. A year later, Shenzhen approved its own policy for digital twin-based construction. AI is also becoming part of this system, including for applications related to autonomous transportation and environmental monitoring.
Guilherme Henrique Fatorelli Del Arco, Urban Development Director at São Paulo Urbanismo, São Paulo City Hall, said digital technologies in São Paulo are used not only by professionals and city authorities. The city operates an open geospatial platform accessible to residents. This approach helps involve citizens in decision-making and makes urban policy more transparent. This is particularly important for São Paulo given the scale and complexity of its urban environment. The city itself has a population of about 11 million, while the metropolitan area includes numerous satellite cities. Authorities face challenges related to transportation, pollution, housing, water resources and uneven development across different areas.
Ahmed Abdulaziz Al Khayyat, Director of the CEO Office at the Urban Planning and Development Authority of Bahrain, agreed with this approach. He emphasized that a digital twin is not only a technology project but also a government project. Creating a 3D model of a city is not enough. The much greater challenge is bringing together accurate and reliable data from different government agencies in a single system. In Bahrain, the system is used to work with information on buildings, land use, roads and infrastructure. However, the expert believes that handing control of the city over to algorithms alone would be the wrong approach. In his view, AI should give specialists more information and help them make better-informed decisions.
Another aspect of urban digitalization was highlighted by Adil Zabadi, Director of Morocco’s National Institute for Urban and Regional Planning (INAU). According to him, such technologies can be used not only to manage modern development but also to preserve cultural heritage sites. This is particularly important for Morocco.
The session participants agreed on one key point: the further development of digital twins for megacities will be closely tied to the use of AI, but final decisions that determine the living conditions of millions of people should remain in human hands.
