Enabling Citizen Engagement via Geolocated AR Interaction with a Digital Twin City

This study reports on the devising and testing of the implementation and effectiveness of geolocated augmented reality (AR) as a potential means to convey urban information and elicit citizen interaction with the ability to interface with a digital twin city (DTC) environment. We have taken an open platform approach. The prospective approach is specifically chosen to test a set of technologies that could inform and actively engage citizens in matters of urban design and development. Critically, in line with the strategy of openness, the approach employs mobile technologies freely available to both citizens and city authorities. We first examine the recent DTC frameworks and the AR technologies capable of delivering the desired on-site interaction. Subsequently, we describe the structured development and testing of a prototype geolocated AR open technology implementation that could effectively integrate mutual communication with a DTC representation. In the case study, we examine the information flow paradigm between the physical and the virtual, then report on the technology’s usability. The study reveals promising performance and potential for the mobile AR system that has been developed, meeting the target expectations for the desired forms of public engagement that could be integrated with a DTC environment. If implemented, this approach has the potential to foster site-specific engagement, both digitally and physically, to enable citizens to interact with city authorities and, more broadly, to promote spatial smartness and urban intelligence.