Metaverse in Local Government Services: What is Next in Municipal Communication Platform Transformation?

Abstract

The emergence of Metaverse has sparked new possibilities for many sectors, including public organisations. It is being increasingly adopted in planning, specifically for smart city actualisation, an immersive experience of the cityscape, real-time data stimulations via digital twins, and communication. Yet, there is limited research on city-scale Metaverse applications, mainly on how they promote tourism and decision-making based on three-dimensional visualisation. Even though Metaverse emerged as a gaming and social networking platform, its role in communication and service delivery in local governments is still at a stage of infancy. Hence, this study aims to consolidate the understanding of local governments’ transformation towards Metaverse and its role in communication and service delivery. Prior research, including grey literature, has been systematically reviewed under the PRISMA protocol and classified into five domains—i.e., adopted fields, benefits, communication strategy, challenges and future concerns, and implications. The findings revealed that: (a) Metaverse is presented as a service delivery platform for local governments; (b) A higher risk to privacy and security arises due to Metaverse’s immersive nature; (c) Metaverse contributes to a further digital divide. The findings inform practitioners on the how, the why and for what purpose Metaverse could be integrated into local government services.

Keywords: Metaverse, local government, communication platform, Web 3, public service delivery