Most of the digital twins in property and real estate have been a response to changes in our society and on our planet. A recent paper by the Australian Computer Society titled “Data and the Digital Self” noted that “major drivers for this change to a digital future world are coming from the intersection of a growing, ageing, and urbanizing population; a globally changing climate; and a response to an increasing number of global challenges and pandemics.” Hidden among these drivers are opportunities for digital twins to unlock new revenues during placemaking.

The term “placemaking” is even harder to define than digital twin, but in this article, we mean creating places with social, environmental, and economic value that are meaningful, vibrant, and enduring. Placemaking requires a combination of global competence and authentic local engagement. It means defining the best of all possibilities while being disciplined enough to deliver that vision sustainably and in partnership with the community.

Digital twins have the potential to solve some significant challenges that exist in property and real estate:

• Reduce real estate costs

• Decarbonize buildings facing rising energy prices and increased regulations

• Improve building resiliency

• Enhance the workplace experience

• Solve low occupancy issues

This involves property and real estate organizations:

• Better accessing, integrating, and optimizing valuable data buried in varied data offerings

• Implementing fully connected building platforms that leverage data models and ontologies

• Providing greater interoperability across expanding partner ecosystems to enable greater insights and value-added processes

The list of components and interfaces that could make up a digital twin for use in property and real estate is large. Typical areas are shown in Table 1.

[For more from the author on this topic, see: “Digital Twins for Places: New Revenues Await.”]