Exploring the Concept of a Digital Twin Smart City for Disaster Emergency Preparedness Planning in Nova Scotia, Canada

Abstract

Cities worldwide are grappling with complex challenges, including rapid urbanization, crowd control, ageing infrastructure, and the necessity for efficient emergency response. These issues are exacerbated by climate change and the increasing risk of natural disasters, compelling innovative solutions for sustainable urban development. The emergence of the Smart City concept has provided a transformative approach to addressing these challenges through advanced technologies to enhance quality of life, urban resilience, and sustainability. Digital Twins (DTs) have emerged as a game-changing tool among these technologies. A DT is a virtual representation of a physical city that mirrors its systems, processes, and operations in real-time. This paper conceptualizes DTs for disaster-resilient smart cities, including descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, prescriptive, and autonomous according to their maturity level. This exploratory paper contributes to the emergency management literature by enhancing the understanding of how different DT maturity levels can be deployed in disaster contexts, especially for flood hazards in Nova Scotia