Local Digital Twin Ecosystems: A Human-Centric Approach

This work explores the growing importance of the human component in Digital Twin design and implementation, challenging the validity of the legacy, purely cyber-physical paradigm. In fact, recent advancements in key enabling technologies have expanded Digital Twin applications to encompass complex socio-technical ecosystems, such as smart cities, highlighting the ever-increasing relevance of humans in these contexts. Consequently, the traditional mechanistic bipolarity of the physical twin/Digital Twin paradigm, derived from industrial engineering, is proving inadequate to model highly anthropogenic landscapes. Therefore, it is necessary to align the Digital Twin model with the prevailing trend of a human-centric digital transformation. In this paper, we propose an extension of the Digital Twin legacy paradigm from a pair-based to a triple-based model that formally includes the human component. This proposal is supported by epistemological justifications, international case studies, enabling methodologies, ongoing pilot projects, and future research directions. The model presented in this paper fosters a human-centric approach to improve decision-making processes and enhance user engagement in Local Digital Twin Ecosystems.