Success factors of open urban data availability for NbS planning, participation, and implementation
NbS are typically highly visible, audible, and tangible interventions or even construction projects. But there is another side to them which is of profound importance: open urban data. The term refers to a wide variety of datasets, which may vary in scale, time reference, complexity, and provenance, but have in common that they represent information about urban spaces and are publicly accessible, mostly provided by a central administration, and can be searched, used, and analysed by anyone. Examples for open urban data may be green areas in the city, information about biodiversity, the locations of playgrounds and schools, traffic, traffic lights and public transport information, the availability of rental bicycles, cultural events or weather data. Accessible through central contact points, such as an Urban Data Platform, up-to-date urban data may support:
- the identification and evaluation of the most reasonable locations for NbS
- data-based citizen participation and co-creation using digital platforms
- the publication of monitoring results and their adoption in the local context, making evaluation and follow-up NbS research traceable, understandable, and comparable
- transparent and accountable NbS governance
In this brief, we delve into the success factors behind open urban data for NbS planning, co-creation, participation, implementation, and monitoring. A case study from the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is presented to demonstrate the many benefits of using open urban data in the scope of the CLEVER Cities project.
