How data portals help build better urban futures

Successful cities run on data, and to deliver data sharing at scale, city authorities need to invest in data portals. They help urban administrations and municipalities better manage their operations, contribute to sustainability goals, increase transparency with citizens and the media, and enable innovation through collaboration with external stakeholders such as universities, businesses and researchers. Based on a recent report from the World Economic Forum (WEF), Connected Places Catapult and The Business of Cities, we explain how data portals can help cities to successfully share data at scale.

Entitled Data for the City of Tomorrow the report looks at what data exists now, and how cities can make the most of it. Built on best practice, it aims to help cities bridge the gap between the datarich and the data-poor by creating responsive urban data ecosystems built on strong capabilities, sharing and mutual trust.

This focus on data in cities is becoming increasingly vital. By 2050 nearly 7 in 10 people will live in cities, according to the World Bank. Citizens and businesses require a liveable, sustainable, and safe city environment that meets their current and future needs.

Data is crucial to underpinning well-run, efficient, greener and more responsive cities, whether generated from Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, software solutions or shared by third-parties. But how can it be used effectively, what technologies and capabilities are needed and how can challenges be overcome?

Given the rise in the volume, velocity and variety of data, the report advocates a joined-up, systems approach that takes a holistic view of data that breaks down silos to meet a city’s individual, pressing challenges. Shared wisely, data can deliver benefits such as:

• Better internal decision making, based on up-to-date data
• Cost savings through improved efficiency
• More effective use of assets by understanding and monitoring them in real-time
• Closer, more engaged relationships with citizens by transparently sharing data on performance
• More sustainable outcomes by using data to monitor and reduce emissions and deliver the green transition

Based on research and best practice from cities around the globe, the report outlines twelve recommendations for how administrations and municipalities can better use data, covering leadership & organization, digital skills, data usage and impact, collaboration & partnerships, people-focused standards and services, and implementation.

For data programs to succeed they need strong, senior leadership, such as through a Chief Data Officer (CDO). They should be given the power and resources to champion the better use of data while ensuring strong, effective governance. However, the CDO shouldn’t operate in isolation – they need to work together with representatives from across different departments to break down barriers. To ensure political support, data should be high on the agenda of elected representatives, with the mayor or immediate deputy responsible for data initiatives.

Cities will all be at different stages of their data maturity journey. That means they should start by assessing where they are now, and creating an overall strategy for data and data sharing. This needs to align and support overall city objectives, whether around sustainability, becoming more citizen-centric or boosting transparency. While the strategy itself needs to be high-level, it should be broken down into concrete steps and projects that are relevant to different departments and citizens alike. Taking a step by step approach is the best route to demonstrating value and building momentum behind the wider program.

For data programs to be effective, everyone in the administration has to have the ability and confidence to use data in their daily working lives. That means building digital skills across departments when it comes to collecting data, ensuring quality and providing it for sharing. Having a central data team alone is not enough to scale your program – you need to have champions across the city who push the benefits of data, and can train others in how to use it effectively.

To demonstrate transparency and boost engagement, it is vital that as much relevant data as possible is shared with citizens. However, sharing raw data, such as through open data portals, is not enough. Citizens need to be empowered to access data, understand it and use it effectively. That means both providing them with digital skills training and means of accessing data (such as public terminals and pervasive WiFi), but more importantly delivering data in inspiring, engaging ways. Make a wide range of data assets easily available via your data portal, including visualizations, maps, monitoring dashboards and data stories that bring information to life.

Data needs to be as accessible as possible for all stakeholders, whether employees, citizens, businesses or other partners. Bring data together through easy to use data portals that provide the same intuitive experience as an ecommerce website. This allows users to search for relevant data, understand what it covers and then use it to make better decisions, monitor performance or find answers to their questions. Cities have an enormous variety of datasets, which can make data sharing programs seem daunting. What is vital is to prioritize the publishing and sharing of data that is relevant to stakeholders. That means engaging closely with different audiences, understanding their needs and focusing on sharing relevant data first to get their buy-in.

Cities need to become data-driven across all their activities. That means everyone inside the organization has to be comfortable handling, understanding and using data in their roles. Cities have to create data cultures internally, with employees from every department trained on the importance of data and how it benefits them. Data-driven decision-making has to be the norm, underpinned by a comprehensive data portal that shares data in multiple ways (visualizations, APIs, download formats) and encourages two-way conversations about data to deliver constant improvement.

City governments don’t operate in isolation – they need to collaborate with neighboring authorities and regional/national governments. For example, if someone lives outside the city they work in, they expect a joined-up experience from all the public bodies they deal with. Collaboration requires data to be interoperable and easy to share so that it can be added to multiple portals at a local, regional and national level.

Wider data sharing exponentially increases benefits for all. That means city administrations should look to partner with a full range of external organizations, including private sector businesses, universities and technology players. This unlocks new use cases for data and greater innovation. Whether data is shared publicly through open data portals, via specific partner portals or one-to-one it is vital to involve partners early, understand their needs and define models to encourage their participation in data sharing.

Citizens rightly demand that data, particularly their personal information, is protected and only used ethically. To build trust around data sharing, cities need to set out clear, strong policies on how data will be collected and used, backed up by full training and effective governance programs. This has to be communicated to citizens and stakeholders, and regularly reviewed and monitored to ensure compliance.

Expectations around the services provided by cities continue to rise. Essentially consumers expect to be able to interact with cities in a seamless, digital manner, just as if they were dealing with any other organization. Data portals are the backbone of providing services in intuitive ways, such as through drill-down dashboards to provide information or to update on the status of requests, or mobile apps which enable citizens to report issues with a single click.

Putting data at the heart of city government can seem complex – it potentially has enormous scope, needing to cover data scattered across the entire organization. New data sources, such as sensors, are continually being added, while needs are continually changing. Rather than a single, ‘big bang’ approach, administrations should start small, focus on projects that deliver value and then scale. Having a pipeline of smaller projects adds flexibility, allowing new use cases to be added or prioritized as requirements evolve.

As with any project, data sharing programs need to be measured against clear metrics, set before the program begins. These should be continually monitored and used to assess progress and steer decision-making. To enable transparency, publicly report the outcomes of projects, whether positive or negative in order to build trust and drive continual improvement.

Data portals are at the heart of industrializing the sharing and use of data, internally within city administrations and externally with citizens, businesses and stakeholders. They support cities in delivering the twelve recommendations above in XX ways:

1. Making it easier to collect data from multiple sources (business systems, sensors, external partners) and centralize it one location
2. Ensure data governance and quality by applying policies and standards to data to drive consistency and enabling seamless sharing with other organizations in the private and public sector
3. Protect confidential or sensitive data by restricting access to certain datasets, based on rights management capabilities
4. Improve decision-making and internal efficiency by empowering everyone within the organization with access to the right data in the right formats for their roles. Portals make it easy to search for and find data assets, especially for staff who are not data specialists
5. Build trust externally with citizens by increasing transparency around performance, and decision-making, showing that the administration is open and accountable
6. Drive digitization and meet changing needs by making it faster and simpler for citizens to interact with government and find information through an intuitive, easy-to-use portal
7. Create an internal data culture and break down silos by delivering information across the organization, backed by training and support materials to democratize access and uncover new use cases
8. Enable innovation by making data available to universities and the private sector, driving collaboration to create new services and solutions
9. Engage citizens and ensure digital equity through an intuitive, easy to use interface that means everyone can seamlessly view data assets, whether raw data, visualizations, maps, dashboards or data stories

Data has the power to transform both how cities operate and the experience they provide to citizens, businesses, and visitors. Following best practices and basing your sharing strategy on an intuitive, scalable data portal makes information accessible in the right formats to everyone, encouraging reuse, building trust and enabling better decision-making.