By Amy Edwards Holmes

Over the past few years, cities around the world fully and publicly embraced data strategies as a way to advance their visions and deliver real results for their residents. From Little Rock, Arkansas to Maipú, Chile, mayors not only devised and implemented far-reaching data strategies, but did so transparently, creating open data portals and inviting residents into the process.

In 2022, the year GovEx and Bloomberg Philanthropies launched the Bloomberg Philanthropies City Data Alliance (CDA), only a few cities in the world had published citywide data strategies. In 2023, as the first cities completed their executive coaching with CDA, that number ballooned to 20, and cities such as Charleston, South Carolina and Montevideo, Uruguay publicly shared strategies that infuse data into virtually all aspects of city governance.

Developing a citywide data strategy (CWDS) is a key component of the CDA curriculum and the strategies include a vision and actionable plan designed to advance a city’s use of data and improve city outcomes. CDA cities work to establish strategies that include five components:

In 2024, the number of cities with data strategies jumped to almost 50, representing tens of millions of people around the world, and cities increasingly promoted data as a key component of their overall approach to governing. 

In December, 2023, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell released Seattle’s One Seattle Data Strategy with a mini-Hackathon that encouraged city residents to identify ways to use the city’s Open Data portal in new and creative ways. The winning team created a data visualization that mapped building permit data onto the city’s Race and Social Equity Index Map, identifying census tracts that should be the highest priority for equity efforts.

Mayor Steven Reed of Montgomery, Alabama announced his data strategy in his January State of the City address. “The city of Montgomery is dedicated to using data-driven approaches to decision making,” he said. “Better information means better policies impacting the citizens of our city and that’s why we have partnered with Bloomberg Philanthropies and [GovEx] through our participation in the Bloomberg Philanthropies City Data Alliance.”

Mayor Reed went on to describe the city’s new data sharing policy and open data portal, where residents can track all city spending. “It’s initiatives like these that are propelling Montgomery forward not just within our state but also on to the national stage,” he said.

In his State of the City address, Mayor Frank Scott of Little Rock, Arkansas described his work with GovEx and Bloomberg to “to create a citywide data strategy, ensuring we become a more transparent government that makes data-driven decisions by holding ourselves accountable to performance metrics exactly showing what we’re doing, how we’re doing, so your city is working for you.”

Mayor Scott went on to describe several components of the plan, including ROCKfolio, where residents can track city spending and ROCKReview, where residents can track progress on a range of city initiatives.

Maipú, Chile launched its data strategy, “Datos Maipú,” in a large press conference at the University of Chile, which, along with the Ministry of Finance, was a collaborator on the ambitious strategy. The strategy includes the implementation of a data portal to track 200 areas of work, security statistics, and financial information.

New data strategies have an immediate impact on some cities. In Montevideo, soon after implementing the new plan, a water crisis emerged and elements of the strategy saved lives, allowing the city to share real-time water-quality updates with residents, identify safe well-water reserves, and microtarget water-bottle delivery to people with medical conditions.

The impacts in other cities are also life-changing in other ways, allowing cities to improve service delivery, increase transparency, and leverage emerging technologies, including AI, across City Hall. Going into 2025, I fully anticipate that comprehensive data strategies will become a standard component of city governments around the world. GovEx will continue to provide the expertise, tools, executive education, and coaching to help them get there.

Amy Edwards Holmes is the GovEx Executive Director.