When the city creates its digital double to reinvent itself

The concept of metaverse promises for the next few years a virtual universe parallel to the real world where millions of humans would connect to have fun, exchange, work, consume or live new experiences. Virtual worlds already exist in the video game, health or industrial sectors, prefiguring the possibilities of tomorrow. Welcome to the future.

What would happen if this street was closed to traffic? What if the duration of this red light was extended? What if the entrance to this store was moved? To answer these questions, urban planners have two solutions: set up a life-size experiment. Or test their ideas in a virtual world: a digital twin of the city. This has the particularity of being a perfect replica of reality, unlike the metaverse developed for video games. Here, the data collected comes directly from real life. Once tested on the digital twin, the solutions are applied…