The Potentials of Digital Tools to Contribute to Spatial Transformations – the Example of the Digital Twin of the City of Helsinki

Pauly, Jonas and Pallagst, Karina (2023) The Potentials of Digital Tools to Contribute to Spatial Transformations – the Example of the Digital Twin of the City of Helsinki. LET IT GROW, LET US PLAN, LET IT GROW. Nature-based Solutions for Sustainable Resilient Smart Green and Blue Cities. Proceedings of REAL CORP 2023, 28th International Conference on Urban Development, Regional Planning and Information Society. pp. 763-775. ISSN 2521-3938

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Abstract

Spatial transformations are a key challenge for communities and regions. The term is rooted in the assumption that in the Anthropocene era, human ways of life and modern economic systems have led to an unsustainable consumption of natural resources and a failure to adhere to planetary limits, which ultimately endangers the natural basis of human life (Engel and Knieling 2018, WBGU 2011). Nowadays we see, in particular with the example of climate change, how environmental threats of different types and intensities affect cities and regions. It creates a strong demand for action. Cities and regions are thus directly affected by transformations. At the same time, they define the spaces where approaches of action and implementation of instruments of spatial planning have the chance to make cities more sustainable and resilient to risks. Thus, active processes which include the whole society are required (Engel and Knieling 2018). Such proceses as is likely to present many municipalities with a major challenge with many difficulties, which raises the question of what options there are for providing them support. The mega-trend of digitalization affects almost all areas, including spatial planning (Pallagst et al. 2022). It can be observed that digital tools have been increasingly used in spatial planning in recent years, offering new technical possibilities. The paper will look in particular at the digital twin of the city of Helsinki and its relevant fields of application. The city faces a variety of different risks in terms of climate change (City of Helsinki 2019). Recent research by the authors investigates which potentials the digital twin of Helsinki offers to support the necessary transformative processes and triggers potential changes of strategies and methods in spatial planning. In order to measure spatial transformations, various theories and multi-level perspective approaches from transformation research are already available (Zolfagharian et al. 2019, Bauknecht et al. 2015, Engel and Knieling 2018). On this basis, the paper discusses to what extent digital tools, can be applied in order to support transformation processes. In addition, the paper intends to contribute to a methodology for comparative case study research.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Digital Twin, Digital Tools in Spatial Planning, Spatial Transformation, Helsinki, Climate Change Risks
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HM Sociology Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Computer software
Depositing User:	REAL CORP Administrator
Date Deposited:	03 Oct 2023 19:25
Last Modified:	04 Oct 2023 17:31
URI:	http://repository.corp.at/id/eprint/1046

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