The Use of Digital Twins for Urban Planning to Yield US$280 Billion in Cost Savings By 2030

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28 Jul 2021

The deployment and use of digital twins in urban contexts are gaining momentum. Cities are increasingly discovering its benefits for both the planning and operational management of their assets. According to a new report by global tech market advisory firm ABI Research, cities are expected to achieve cost savings of US$280 billion by 2030 by using digital twins for more efficient urban planning.

“Digital twins will become the ultimate tool for city governments to design, plan and manage their connected infrastructure and assets in an efficient and cost-effective way. Cost savings can be obtained in key areas, such as energy and utilities, transportation, safety and security, and infrastructure (roads/buildings). However, urban digital twins also offer many other advantages in terms of supporting and improving sustainability, circularity, decarbonization, and the overall quality of urban living,” says Dominique Bonte, Vice President End Markets at ABI Research.  

Efficiencies can be achieved across a wide range of asset categories and use cases:

  • First time right designs of buildings and other physical infrastructure avoiding expensive modifications after completion
  • Energy-efficient building designs maximizing solar capacity yielding lifetime long energy savings
  • Resilient and safe infrastructure designs reducing policing and emergency response costs
  • Optimized designs of utilities, streetlight, and surveillance networks to achieve the same coverage target with less capex
  • Design of covid-19 proof buildings resulting in healthcare savings  
  • Digital twins enabling efficient eGovernment in terms of the seamless exchange of data with citizens for mediation purposes.

Leading suppliers offering urban digital twin planning solution suites include Engie-owned Siradel (telco, surveillance, streetlights, mobility), Dassault Systèmes (generative building design, energy, airflow, green infrastructure), Siemens (buildings, electric digital twin), ANSYS (lighting, Covid-19), IES (energy-efficient campuses), Bentley Systems (ports, water distribution), Microsoft, AutoDesk, PTV (transportation), and CityZenith (districts). Some vendors specialize in specific capabilities such as physics modeling and simulation of light, heat, airflow, noise, radio wave propagation (ANSYS, Siradel), generative design (Dassault Systèmes), and dynamic modeling of vehicle and pedestrian traffic (PTV). Underlying all solutions is their capability for virtual prototyping and scenario analysis.

“While the cost-saving advantages of digital twins allow cities to achieve fast ROIs, the increasingly complex nature of connected and smart urban infrastructure, especially in view of future smart urban concepts, will simply mandate the deployment of digital twins as critical, holistic management tools, similar to the role they play in other industries like manufacturing,” Bonte concludes.

These findings are from ABI Research’s Digital Twins and Urban Infrastructure Planning application analysis report. This report is part of the company’s Smart Cities and Smart Spaces research service, which includes research, data, and analyst insights. Based on extensive primary interviews, Application Analysis reports present in-depth analysis on key market trends and factors for a specific application, which could focus on an individual market or geography.

About ABI Research

ABI Research is a global technology intelligence firm uniquely positioned at the intersection of technology solution providers and end-market companies. We serve as the bridge that seamlessly connects these two segments by providing exclusive research and expert guidance to drive successful technology implementations and deliver strategies proven to attract and retain customers.

ABI Research 是一家全球性的技术情报公司,拥有得天独厚的优势,充当终端市场公司和技术解决方案提供商之间的桥梁,通过提供独家研究和专业性指导,推动成功的技术实施和提供经证明可吸引和留住客户的战略,无缝连接这两大主体。

For more information about ABI Research’s services, contact us at +1.516.624.2500 in the Americas, +44.203.326.0140 in Europe, +65.6592.0290 in Asia-Pacific, or visit www.abiresearch.com.

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