“That’s the dream, right?”: reflections on the co-design of an environmental digital twin by flood risk management professionals

Digital Twins (DTs) offer dynamic, near-real-time representations of systems, enabling visualization of current and projected states and the testing of interventions. These emerging technologies have significant potential to transform environmental risk management practices. However, developing DTs for environmental management and disaster risk reduction presents substantial challenges. In Flood Risk Management (FRM), this complexity is amplified by the involvement of multiple professional stakeholders with diverse statutory responsibilities, priorities, and information needs. Currently, there is no formalized approach for DT design nor established methods for integrating end-user requirements. Development processes often remain top-down and technology-driven rather than participatory and user-focused.

This presentation reports one of the first attempts to embed user co-design in the development of an environmental DT. It draws on FLOODTWIN an interdisciplinary demonstrator project for FRM in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire (UK), a region characterized by compound and complex flood risk. Using qualitative data from participatory workshops and interviews, we examine the project’s co-creation process with professional FRM stakeholders. Our analysis maps emerging opportunities and challenges in DT development and interface design, viewed through an ethnographic lens. We explore stakeholder perspectives on technology adoption, the politics of data sharing, and the role of academic research in shaping future DT applications in FRM practice.

This research contributes a new evidence base to inform research on co-creating digital tools for multi-agency decision-making in FRM and broader environmental management. We propose a research planning framework to guide co-design processes in future DT projects. In doing so, we highlight how sub-optimal water risk management is socially constructed, revealing that it is not solely a technical problem but one embedded in institutional, cultural, and political contexts.