Geo-powering Cities for Resilience
Thursday, Dec 03, UTC 02:00 to 03:55
Organizer: World Bank’s City Planning Labs
| The urban data revolution has already started. Over the last decade, cities have been offered unprecedented opportunities to mobilize geospatial data to enhance livability and reduce vulnerability through risk-informed decision making. Data is helping cities prioritize investments to build resilient cities and to boost sustainable development. But truly geo-powering cities involves not only the use of geospatial data but ensuring that data turns into information and decision makers have the capacity and tools to make evidence-based decisions. This requires moving away from sectoral egos towards an ecosystem approach where identification of risks and solutions is done in a collaborative manner; and innovation, technology, capacity, and regulation work together to strengthen evidence-based spatial planning, increasing resilience of the system. This approach is being promoted by the World Bank’s City Planning Labs (CPL) technical assistance initiative to geo-power client governments through Municipal Spatial Data Infrastructure (MSDI). MSDI is operationalized under four interconnected pillars: Institutional Arrangements, People, Data and Systems, or IPDS in short. Diagnostics, tools and regulatory processes are embedded within these four pillars which work together to ensure the systematic information flows and effective use of geospatial intelligence which prioritizes risk-informed actions and thus greater benefits for citizens. Participants will learn how MSDI’s four pillar framework (i.e. IPDS) and its associated tools offer a unique solution for institutionalizing resilient urban planning and management through enhanced inter-agency collaboration, robust data foundations, cutting edge risks analytical tools and digital platforms developed under CPL. Implementing MSDI requires a mindset shift: to think of data as infrastructure. To apply the approach using the example of a common type of infrastructure such as roads, participants will be asked to think about the supporting elements that enable a road to function: Roads needs regulations that determine mutually agreed-upon, acceptable driving behavior: for example, drunk-driving or texting while driving is illegal. Similarly, the use of geospatial data needs policy regulations and a data governance system, i.e. Institutional Arrangements. Roads also need workers for repairs, regular maintenance and traffic management. The work of data verification, updates, maintenance, and verification also requires staff with relevant educational backgrounds – in other words, well-trained People. Lastly, roads must be planned, managed, and treated as part of a system. Roads can only function as part of a road network – a single road segment offers limited benefits to its users. Just like roads, Data needs to exist within a System, alongside other datasets, to unleash its power. The proposed interactive workshop will take place over two blocks. Participants will engage with the content of MSDI’s four pillars and learn about the range of available risks diagnostics, tools and manuals. Exercises and activities will apply creative approaches, including use of technology. The sessions will be supported by international experts. |
