Introduction

Smart cities have been around since the early 1970s and with the increasing urbanization, rise in new technologies, and use of data to inform local decision-making, they have since grown in prominence. These cities are ‘smart’ not only in how their governments harness technology, but also in the ways that they monitor, analyze, plan, and govern using information derived from IoT systems (Mills et al., 2022). Evidence-based decision-making is another key dimension of smart cities, enabled and supported by real-time data collection and analysis (Gil-Garcia et al., 2016) and subsequent improvements in decision-making across sectors. This portfolio of work examines how we can learn from smart cities to improve data for decision-making.

About the Project

TReNDS is supporting data improvements to the “Smart City” agenda via a number of initiatives. Current work includes: (i) Leading a United Nations Statistics Commission (UNSC)-endorsed workstream on Data Stewardship and the City Data Agenda; (ii) exploring collaborations with the World Bank team in Hanoi supporting the Ho Chi Minh smart cities’ agenda; and (iii) examining the role of partnerships (with other cities, academia, or the private sector) to drive policy making and program delivery at the municipal level.

Resources

Events

Data Innovations and Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations for Smart Cities: Case Studies from Across the Globe

A session on data innovations and partnerships for smart cities during the 2023 UN World Data Forum.

Enabling a data-driven culture between the national and city level: How can National Statistical Offices and City Data Officers work together 

As part of the UN World Data Forum webinar series, TReNDS co-hosted a webinar on how to encourage national statistics offices and city chief data officers to work together.

Reports

Background Document for the 53rd UN Statistical Commission (p.24 - 34)

To better understand how the experiences of CDOs at the city and sub-national levels can help to inform their national counterparts, TReNDS conducted initial research on this issue as part of the United Nations Statistics Commission’s (UNSC) Working Group on Data Stewardship. 

Data Stewardship and the City Data Agenda: A Case Study of León, Mexico

This case study was written by expert member Eduardo Sojo and highlights lessons learned from Mexico's National Statistics Office and the City of León.

For more information on this initiative, contact trends@unsdsn.org.