Application of Digital Twin in City Management

The trend of rapid urbanization brings numerous challenges for urban environments, whereby the concept of smart cities is imposed as a solution to the current and future challenges of managing cities and improving the quality of life of citizens. The development of the concept of smart cities is stimulated by the development of innovative technologies, and their application improves city processes, services, sustainability, and the economy. The successful implementation of new city management concepts is made possible by the creation of virtual copies of urban environments, materialized in the context of digital twins. Digital twins are being created today in all aspects of human activity such as manufacturing, space industry, medicine, and many others. In the context of urban management, digital twins are established in different levels: for a part of a city, a smart district or at the level of an entire city. As part of this paper, a 3D model was developed for the test area of the city of Pula in Croatia, which is the backbone for the establishment of the digital twin of the city. The main purpose of establishing such virtual platform is to point out the possibilities of application through analysis, simulation, optimization, and predicting.