Unveiling the Ethical Dimension of Urban Digital Twins: A Framework for Responsible and Sustainable Urban Planning.

This article focuses on establishing a comprehensive ethical framework for urban digital twins (UDTs) to systematically integrate ethical considerations throughout their development lifecycle. Building on Carl Steinitz's six-model geodesign framework, the authors propose a six-stage UDT framework—Visualization, Dynamic Simulation, Urban Performance Assessment, Alternative Planning Scenarios, Urban Change Impact Analysis, and Urban Management Decision—each embedded with a dual-layer approach combining stakeholder co-creation and continuous ethical checks. The framework addresses four core ethical themes: Privacy and Security, Transparency and Accountability, Bias and Fairness, and Data Integrity and Accuracy, operationalized through stage-specific binary ethical check questions to guide responsible and inclusive urban planning. An analysis of fifty-eight UDT initiatives reveals that while technical capabilities are advancing, ethical considerations are often superficially addressed or fragmented, underscoring the need for this structured, actionable framework. The study calls for future empirical validation and refinement of the framework, emphasizing long-term social equity impacts and diverse stakeholder engagement in real-world urban digital twin applications.