Human-Centered Urban Digital Twins and Policy Insights

Topic Snapshot

About Computational Urban Science

Computational Urban Science is an open-access journal by Springer Nature focused on the intersection of computational methods and urban science. It publishes original research, reviews, methods papers, and opinion papers for data-driven urban analysis and policy practice.

According to the Springer collection/journal listing, the journal reports strong visibility and review efficiency, supporting timely dissemination of urban computing research.

Background and Aim

Rapid progress in information technologies, sensing networks, and artificial intelligence is turning cities into highly digitized and tightly coupled systems. Human activities, such as mobility choices, social interactions, residential behavior, and daily routines, are now central to understanding how urban systems function and evolve.

At the same time, urban research faces persistent challenges in spatiotemporal heterogeneity, multiscale interaction, uncertainty, and model interpretability. This collection encourages integrative frameworks that combine computational social science, urban data science, geospatial AI, and urban digital twins for robust urban analysis and policy support.

The topical collection seeks contributions that bridge methodological innovation and real-world impact, especially studies that inform planning, governance, regeneration, and evidence-based urban decision-making.

Suggested Topics

• Data-driven sensing, modeling, simulation, and prediction of human activities across urban systems.
• GeoAI and urban digital twin applications for representing human-urban interactions and decision support.
• Computational analysis of urban mobility and transportation, including uncertainty and multimodal behavior.
• Integrated studies of human activity, urban environment, climate processes, and sustainability.
• Decision-support methods for planning, governance, regeneration, and smart city development.
• Comparative and cross-regional analysis under different economic, social, cultural, and institutional contexts.

Submission Guidance

To submit to this collection, prepare your manuscript under the scope of Computational Urban Science and follow the official workflow.

• Submit through the participating journal portal of Computational Urban Science.
• Select the collection title "Human-Centered Urban Digital Twins and Policy Insights" during submission.
• State your interest in this collection in the cover letter.
• All accepted papers are published open access and become immediately accessible online.
• Typical paper formats include original articles, reviews, methods papers, and opinion papers, subject to journal policy.

Please refer to the official collection page and journal guidelines for the most current policies and requirements.

Important Dates

Guest Editors

Keywords and Impact

• Human-Centered Urban Dynamics
• Urban Digital Twins
• Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI)
• Urban Mobility and Transportation Analytics
• Simulation, Prediction, and Decision Support
• Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11)