Good Enough Evidence-Based Planning: Data Challenges and Solutions in Southern Smart Urbanism

Abstract

The opportunities connected to smart urbanism, sensors networks and big data bring about the risk of overemphasizing the importance of data, and to a race in increasing the levels and granularity that we require for urban analysis before understanding of the implications, limitations, and boundaries of the data collected. In particular, many cities in the global south still struggle with weak capacity to collect, manage and utilize data to inform evidence-based spatial planning (EBSP). With minimal direction on distinguishing between essential and non-essential datasets, prioritizing tasks and deployment of technology, identifying short-term achievements versus long-term goals, and being realistic about resources, those cities are placed in a vicious cycle and a precarious position to manage climate risks and the demands of rapid urbanization. Our study presents a comparative analysis of three cities in the Global South to examines the challenges and enablers of EBSP in global south cities (Durban, South Africa, Khorog, Tajikistan, and Bosaso, Somalia) and the considerations that practitioners typically take into account. Our research is based on interviews and focal group discussions with international agency representatives and local administrators, alongside review of relevant datasets and documents. The findings from this study contribute to the smart urbanism literature by a more nuanced understanding of the evolution of urban data analytics institutions and capabilities and the necessary trade-offs and priorities. It also identifies fundamental areas to potentially improve practice and planning impact, providing a pragmatic framework to spatial data management, analysis, and reasoning.