Speaker
Description
In today's multi-crisis era, cities face increasing climate change impacts, environmental degradation, social and economic inequalities, and urban shocks. Traditional planning approaches often fall short in responding to these rapid and unexpected challenges. The growing need for data-driven, agile, and innovative solutions underscores the importance of real-time urban data as the backbone of an effective urban planning (Batty, 2013; Kitchin, 2014). Innovative perspectives on data, particularly value-based urban data, are essential for addressing urban problems in this complexity.
The scope, quality, and governance of datasets enhance the impact of urban plans, enabling precise solutions to urban challenges. Sustainable action plans, supported by specific datasets and indicators, facilitate data-driven monitoring, forecasting, and modelling practices that are often excluded from traditional planning practices (Asokan et al., 2020; UN-Habitat, 2014). However, Turkey's urban data infrastructure reveals critical gaps, including limited access to up-to-date and dynamic data, weak institutional coordination, and the absence of a unified data ontology or standardized framework. Additional challenges include underdeveloped data cultures, insufficient representation of diverse urban needs and limited institutional capacity to address new urban challenges (UNDP, 2024). These shortcomings highlight the need for structural reforms to create an inclusive and effective urban data ecosystem.
The Urban Observatory emerges as an innovative tool to address these gaps. Drawing on insights from UN-Habitat (2020) and Kitchin (2014), it establishes a participatory and collaborative network for generating, analysing and disseminating data to support equitable and resilient cities. By promoting the use of urban data in policymaking, planning, and management, Urban Observatories can develop value-based information systems that prioritize sustainability, equity, and resilience (Foth et al., 2015; Rydin, 2013; Batty, 2013). These systems enable evidence-based urban policies and tailored solutions to urban crises (UN-Habitat, 2020).
This paper examines how the Urban Observatory can be utilized to produce value-based urban data, with a focus on environmental sustainability, by analysing local practices in various geographies. Paper explores successful implementations of Urban Observatories and evaluates their applicability to Turkey. The study also investigates how this approach can be integrated into spatial, institutional and action plan methodologies to shape urban political agendas (Development Gateway Inc., 2017; UN-Habitat, 2016). By doing so, it aims to advance the discourse on data-driven urban planning and contribute to the development of more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient cities.
References
Journal Article:
Asokan, V.A., Yarime, M. & Onuki, M. (2020) 'A review of data-intensive approaches for sustainability: Methodology, epistemology, normativity, and ontology', Sustainability Science, pp. 955–974.
Kitchin, R. (2014). The Data Revolution: Big Data, Open Data, Data Infrastructures and Their Consequences. SAGE Publications.
Rusli, N., Ling, G.H. & Hussain, M.H. (2023) 'A review on worldwide urban observatory systems' data analytics themes: Lessons learned for Malaysia Urban Observatory (MUO)', Journal on Urban Management, pp. 231–254.
Book:
Batty, M. (2013). The New Science of Cities. MIT Press.
Rydin, Y. (2013). The Future of Planning: Beyond Growth Dependence. Policy Press.
Foth, M., Brynskov, M., & Ojala, T. (Eds.). (2015). Citizen’s Right to the Digital City: Urban Interfaces, Activism, and Placemaking. Springer.
Other Documents:
Development Gateway Inc. (2017) An innovative data toolkit for city management. Belgium: Cities Alliance.
UN-Habitat (2014) Planning for climate change: A strategic values-based approach for urban planners. Nairobi, Kenya: United Nations Human Settlements Programme.
UN-Habitat (2016). Urbanization and Development: Emerging Futures. World Cities Report 2016.
UN-Habitat (2020) A guide to setting up an urban observatory. Nairobi, Kenya: UN-Habitat.
UNDP (2024) Data governance framework: Recommendation report for Turkey. New York: United Nations Development Programme.
| Keywords | Data-Driven Planning; Value-Based Urban Data; Urban Observatory; Sustainable Cities |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
