The future of cities data-sharing in medium and long term | Professor Sir Alan Wilson | January 2015

FORESIGHT:

FUTURE OF CITIES

Data-sharing for the

medium and long-term

Image: CASA

Future of Cities 2

Future of Cities project

Project aim

Provide central and local government with an

evidence base to support policy decisions

in the short term which will lead to positive

outcomes for cities in the long term.

1. Review evidence

2. Explore nature of long term challenges

3. Develop capability for long term policy

Living in Cities

Urban Economies

Urban Metabolism

Urban Form

Urban Infrastructure

Urban Governance

Holistic perspective:

6 key themes UK system (national), city systems (local)

Spatial scales

Time horizon

2065

Future of Cities

We continue to engage with a broad range of stakeholders

through a series of exercises to develop the evidence base.

Our ways of working

3

City visits 19 cities

City projects 6 local projects

City Visions network

Working papers 8 published, 8+ forthcoming,

4+ think pieces

Workshops 14 Whitehall departments

5 expert workshops

Scenarios National forecasts

Local scenarios

Future of Cities

Data & Science of Cities

4

• The density of interactions in cities

makes them important generators

and consumers of data.

• Understanding the future challenges

facing UK cities is dependent on the

availability of more reliable data.

• Data on its own will not make cities

smarter!

• Analytics unlocks the potential of

data to increase our understanding of

cities, supporting the further

development of a science of cities.

Future of Cities

Opportunities

5

• Data richness: New apps and sensors in the urban fabric will allow services to generate and use

data in real-time to improve.

• Improving services: analysis of data at the local and national level can provide key opportunities

for cities to manage resources and provide services more efficiently.

• Making urban governance more integrated and responsive: increasing availability of data will

change the role that citizens can play in the design and operation of their cities.

• Making cities more Resilient: better and more widely available information to inform decision-

making will allow cities to prevent, or at least recover quicker, from severe threats, such as

environmental shocks and terrorism

• Revealing Hidden Synergies: more communications means more potential for businesses and

people to interact. This has allowed new online peer-to-peer marketplaces to compete with

traditional business models.

Future of Cities

Challenges

6

1. Accessing data: too often data is locked away from where it could have most impact by

technological or institutional barriers. By the time data is received it is often out of date.

Government needs to engage with data-holders across sector divides unlock the full potential this

data has.

3. Cities are sites of great interdependency, and yet the data landscape is highly fragmented.

4. Opening and sharing data: Government needs to incentivise the opening and sharing of data. A

single public agency, such as the UK Statistics Authority, should have responsibility for regulating

data access and privacy.

5. Fostering privacy and trust: Government must be proactive in ensuring concerns in these

areas are met.

6. Delivering long term solutions at pace: cities need to work out what is needed and do it quickly,

but in a way that the next requirements can build on progressively to avoid reworking the vision

later.

2. Cities themselves are interdependent. Sharing of projection and forecast data

between local governments enhances the robustness of local long term planning.

Future of Cities

Key messages: a summary

7

Interdependencies in city and regional systems are of

crucial importance and this underpins much of our

thinking; the science of cities helps us to handle this

Technology is helping cities to become smart, but this is

focused on the present. We need to be smart for the

long run

Technological change, and the fact, to put it technically,

that cities are complex nonlinear systems, means that

we cannot expect to forecast over 25 and 50 year time

horizons. What we can do, and will do, is develop

scenarios that can be tested

Kathryn Moore, HS2: Landscape Vision for Birmingham, 2012

Future of Cities 8

Well-being and liveability: access to work

(incomes), housing, skills and services

Develop and realise economic potential at the

city scale; Future proofing through a skilled and

educated workforce

Develop realistic sustainability policies and plans

Urban form: densities and accessibilities,

brownfields vs garden cities

Key messages: a summary

Studio Linfors, Cloud Skippers, 2009

Future of Cities 9

Infrastructure systems, land ……

Functional city regions; autonomy

and subsidiarity

Develop enhanced foresight

capabilities in both local and

central government

Key messages: a summary

URBED, Uxcester Masterplan, Wolfson

Economics Prize, 2014

Future of Cities

Next steps: Scenarios

10

We will explore scenarios:

based on trend projection

driven by an articulation of aspirations

examining plausible extremes

• market forces (and some planning)

• policy reform (dealing with the ‘social’)

• new sustainability paradigm

(environmental challenges)

• fortress world (polarisation)

Through City Vision network and at the UK

system level – focusing on population

distributions, connectivities and major challenges.

Future of Cities 11

Are there barriers to the sharing of

forecast data between local authorities?

Which data sets are especially useful

for long term planning at the local level?

What can national government do to

ensure data sets for long term decision-

making are available to local government?

How can national government support the development of the

capabilities required for using data for long term planning?

To what extent are such data sets already

shared between local authorities?

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. We apologise for any errors or omissions in the included attributions and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future versions of this slide set. We can be contacted through [email protected] .

@foresightgovuk

www.gov.uk/go-science