Digital Twin Technology for Smart Indian Cities

2026-07-27T07:50:13+00:00

— As India advances into the strategic framework of the Smart Cities Mission 2.0, the governance of hyper-dense, rapidly urbanising ecosystems requires a paradigm shift from reactive event mitigation to predictive, simulation-driven operational planning. Urban Digital Twins (UDTs)—dynamic, multi-dimensional virtual replicas of physical city environments synchronised via real-time data streams—offer an epochal technological infrastructure to meet this demand. This paper provides a comprehensive evaluation of the distinct opportunities UDT architectures present for the Indian municipal landscape, notably climate-resilient flood modelling, subsurface utility orchestration, and multimodal traffic dynamic optimisation. Concurrently, it critically appraises the deep-seated structural and socio-technical challenges hindering deployment, such as acute data fragmentation across urban local bodies (ULBs), severe geospatial base-mapping deficits, institutional capability gaps, and unresolved privacy-by-design imperatives. Finally, this paper introduces a scalable, multi-layered implementation framework explicitly optimised for the Indian administrative fabric, leveraging the existing Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs) and the National Urban Digital Mission (NUDM) as architectural anchors, culminating in a systematic, phased deployment roadmap.

Systemic Valuation Challenges and their Impact on Construction Management: A Study from Lumbini Province, Nepal

2026-09-07T05:10:22+00:00

This study investigates systemic challenges facing property valuation in Lumbini Province, Nepal, and examines how valuation practices affect construction management outcomes. A mixed-methods approach was employed with 99 respondents across five stakeholder groups. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Relative Importance Index (RII). Qualitative data from four key informant interviews were analyzed thematically. The most significant challenges are: lack of reliable market data (Mean=1.78, RII=0.844), lack of standardized valuation guidelines (Mean=2.00, RII=0.800), and limited training of valuers (Mean=2.17, RII=0.766). These represent an interconnected "information crisis, regulatory crisis, and capacity crisis." Valuation practices exert the strongest influence on construction financing (Mean=1.78, Rank 1) and land acquisition (Mean=2.00, Rank 2). Inaccuracies and valuer-bank disputes cascade into project delays, cost overruns, and reputational damage. This is the first empirical study to systematically identify and rank valuation challenges in Nepal's emerging property market and quantify their impact on construction management outcomes.

Journal of Advanced Research in Construction & Urban Architecture

Digital Twin Technology for Smart Indian Cities

Systemic Valuation Challenges and their Impact on Construction Management: A Study from Lumbini Province, Nepal