Developing an assessment governance framework for urban digital twins: Insights from smart cities

The rampant urbanization process has highlighted the need of an efficient governance for urban areas. Nevertheless, cities must face the challenge of adapting to technology advances arising from the digital era we are living in. Under this context, urban digital twins (UDTs) have recently superseded smart cities in the attempt of improving the management of city resources and the live of citizens through the use of sophisticated technology. Although the governance of smart cities has been broadly handled in the literature, the influence of UDTs on urban governance still remains unaddressed. This article aims at closing this gap by developing a framework to assess the contribution of UDTs in the governance of cities. A mixed methodology combining an in-depth literature review, a four-round Delphi technique and the Best-Worst multi-criteria decision making method was implemented to this end. The new instrument consists of a two-tier scheme comprising 7 categories and 33 attributes, of which 26 were deemed as essential for an efficient governance. Institutional dimension prevailed over the remaining sustainability domains. Three performance thresholds were defined: low governance, average governance and high governance. The application of the rating system to the UDT of Singapore as case study determined a high level of governance for this city. Some policies were however recommended to strengthen gaps found in Singapore. • Growing urbanization process worldwide demands an efficient governance for urban areas. • Digital innovations should be incorporated on urban governance to increase social engagement. • Urban Digital Twins are an outstanding technology to promote the development of smart cities. • The assessment of the role of UDTs in the urban governance is a pending matter. • Institutional aspect prevails over the other sustainable dimensions on the governance of UDTs.