Data Strategies for Common Good-Oriented Urban Development – International

The idea of “Smart Cities” arises as a promising approach for cities worldwide wishing to find sustainable solutions that capitalize on data and technology for advancing urban development. Utilizing the right data can be a game-changer for cities that wish for example to radically improve their public transport, reduce greenhouse emissions, tackle epidemics, and deliver evidence-based policies. The COVID-19 crisis has given a boost to digitalisation, promoting cities in both developed and developing countries to reach for data, technological tools, and data-based interventions.

The study “Data Strategies for Common Good-Oriented Urban Development – International” by the International Smart Cities Network (ISCN) provides international technical know-how, best practices, lessons learned and recommendations from the data approaches followed by cities around the world. It does so by first providing a short analysis and summary of the current international debates on data strategies, highlighting the many opportunities that arise when working with data. Second, an overview of international best practices shows how different cities are implementing data strategies and data-based interventions to ensure the sustainable provision of common goods. Lastly, the paper provides an overview of the main challenges and recommendations identified by this team during the research process.

The publication complements the “Data Strategies for Common Good-Oriented Urban Development” of the National Dialogue Platform Smart Cities with an international perspective. The sharing of the opinions of experts from around the world, observing how cities make the most out of urban data, and formulating recommendations to tackle common challenges are intended to inspire other cities in their efforts to shape their data ecosystem and develop their own solutions. We hope we can foster a data culture and approach that is viable, scalable and inclusive, and that allows data to pave the way to a future in which the human factor defines our city experience.