CitiVerse: From Semiotic Theory to Interoperable, Human-Centered Smart Cities

The rapid digital transformation of urban environments is revolutionizing how cities manage infrastructure, governance, and citizen engagement. While numerous pilots on smart cities and urban digital twins have been conducted, a shift is emerging toward more interconnected, intelligent, and immersive approaches, nowadays referred to as CitiVerse. This paper presents a multi-layered CitiVerse framework that integrates technologies such as the Internet of Things and Digital Twins with the concept of Stampers's Semiotic Ladder. We explore (1) whether CitiVerse aligns with established IT-frameworks such as Stamper's Semiotic Ladder, and (2) how this alignment can be used to further enhance the CitiVerse framework.