Abstract:Digital twin cities are an important direction for the future development of smart cities and an important way to accelerate the cultivation and development of new quality productivity. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to study the development and industrial application of digital twin cities. Based on this, sort out the theoretical connotation and development status of digital twin cities, summarize the difficulties and challenges faced by the current application of digital twin cities based on existing practices, and propose suggestions for promoting innovative development of digital twin city applications, in order to provide reference and inspiration for the in-depth development of digital twin cities and the cultivation of new quality productivity. By systematically analyzing the operational logic and required technical support system of digital twin cities, three representative regions including Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen were selected as research samples. The development experience of these cities was summarized from the dimensions of development planning and layout, technological capacity building, application practice, and development advantages, providing reference for further deepening the application practice of digital twin cities. The results indicate that there are still many challenges in promoting the application of digital twin cities. In addition to technological bottlenecks, the low degree of integration between technology and business, weak sustainable operation, and the lack of a situation of co construction, co governance, and shared development are all constraining the development of digital twin cities. In the future, it is necessary to accelerate technological breakthroughs, increase factor investment, explore the formation of long-term business models from high-value application scenarios, and strengthen cooperation to build a new pattern of co-construction, co-governance and shared development.