Metaverse: a new platform for circular smart cities

The way we interact with the physical world around us is being changed rapidly by advances in technology. These new technologies are very helpful for developing smart cities with the goal of improving the quality of life considering sustainability. Technology is also at the core of the circular city vision, and we need to use the new technologies and act in a smarter way in smart cities to support the achievement of economic, environmental, and social targets that are important for sustainable development and circular economy (CE) implementation. The metaverse (which is the combination of the prefix “meta” with the word “universe”) is a new concept that is known as transcending hypothetical synthetic environment linked to the physical world. In this chapter, the proposed concept will be introduced in more detail, and then the authors discuss how smart cities can use the metaverse platforms for improving themselves in five main aspects including governance, environment, mobility, economy, and quality of life dimensions.