Trapped in Technocentric Thinking? Revisiting Digital Twins Through a Pragmatic Framework

To conceptualise the requirements and shape of construction digital twins, literature often proposes ideal-types and frameworks involving sensorised, real-time, and highly automated systems. While concepts demand significant resource investments and changes to business processes, their benefits remain debatable. To refocus on the needs of construction practice, we propose an alternative characterisation of construction digital twin systems. This study explores the conceptual diversity of useful systems through a framework comprising latency, fidelity, physical-digital connectivity, and analytic capabilities. It uses an engaged scholarship approach to apply this framework to two cases: A construction control room and an underground utility digital twin. Results show that these cases deviate from techno-centric perceptions, exhibiting variations in latency (low to high), fidelity (low to high realism), physical-digital connectivity (loose to tight), and analytic capabilities (descriptive to predictive). We conclude that construction may defy techno-centric stereotypes. Instead of exploring how organisations must adapt to comprehensive technological twins, future research should prioritise contextual needs to develop useful systems that enhance decision-making practices in the field.