Integration of Blockchain and Digital Twins in the Smart Built Environment Adopting Disruptive Technologies—A Systematic Review

Sadri, Habib; Yitmen, Ibrahim; Tagliabue, Lavinia Chiara; Westphal, Florian; Tezel, Algan; Taheri, Afshin; Sibenik, Goran

Abstract

The integration of blockchain and digital twins (DT) for better building-lifecycle data management has recently received much attention from researchers in the field. In this respect, the adoption of enabling technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud and edge computing, Big Data analytics, etc., has also been investigated in an abundance of studies. The present review inspects the recent studies to shed light on the foremost among those enabling technologies and their scope, challenges, and integration potential. To this end, 86 scientific papers, recognized and retrieved from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, were reviewed and a thorough bibliometric analysis was performed on them. The obtained results demonstrate the nascency of the research in this field and the necessity of further implementation of practical methods to discover and prove the real potential of these technologies and their fusion. It was also found that the integration of these technologies can be beneficial for addressing the implementation challenges they face individually. In the end, an abstract descriptive model is presented to provide a better understanding of how the technologies can become integrated into a unified system for smartening the built environment.

Citation

Sadri, H., Yitmen, I., Tagliabue, L. C., Westphal, F., Tezel, A., Taheri, A., & Sibenik, G. (2023). Integration of Blockchain and Digital Twins in the Smart Built Environment Adopting Disruptive Technologies—A Systematic Review. Sustainability, 15(4), Article 3713. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043713

• Journal Article Type: Review
• Acceptance Date: Feb 10, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Feb 17, 2023
• Publication Date: Feb 2, 2023
• Deposit Date: Feb 17, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 17, 2023
• Journal: Sustainability
• Electronic ISSN: 2071-1050
• Publisher: MDPI AG
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 4
• Article Number: 3713
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043713
• Keywords: blockchain; digital twin; Internet of Things; artificial intelligence; technology fusion; building industry
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/17385083
• Publisher URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3713
• Additional Information: Open Access