Urban and Spatial Planning Through the Support Tool of the Regional Digital Twin

The gradual transposition of physical and intangible reality into the digital environment interfaces with a multiplicity of areas, although still being stabilized. Creating connections between data streams and information from physical and digital space provides the ability to test and analyze the behavior of systems, depending on different needs and objectives, with the ability to be able to create simulations and generate real-time information useful for a more current concept of planning. In this sense, a study at the University of L’Aquila is defining a prototype Urban and Regional Digital Twin (Urban and Regional Twin) as an innovative tool for representing and analyzing reality at different scales of intervention. The main objective is thus to support planning and programmatic choices by providing a cross-cutting and detailed representation of reality, linking to the paradigms of Knowledge Systems and Digital Information Platforms. Another goal will be to reconsider current planning paradigms regarding the potential of DT. The article will describe the methodology that the research, to date in its early stages, is following to structure such a system by identifying its sources, processes, and possible fields of application of which some elaborations already carried out are presented. Several case studies (one Italian and one international) were outlined to test their capabilities and applicability in different territorial contexts.