Urban Big Data and Sustainable Development Goals: Challenges and Opportunities

Ali Kharrazi,Yi Zhang,Hua Qin

doi:10.3390/su8121293

Abstract

Cities are perhaps one of the most challenging and yet enabling arenas for sustainable development goals. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasize the need to monitor each goal through objective targets and indicators based on common denominators in the ability of countries to collect and maintain relevant standardized data. While this approach is aimed at harmonizing the SDGs at the national level, it presents unique challenges and opportunities for the development of innovative urban-level metrics through big data innovations. In this article, we make the case for advancing more innovative targets and indicators relevant to the SDGs through the emergence of urban big data. We believe that urban policy-makers are faced with unique opportunities to develop, experiment, and advance big data practices relevant to sustainable development. This can be achieved by situating the application of big data innovations through developing mayoral institutions for the governance of urban big data, advancing the culture and common skill sets for applying urban big data, and investing in specialized research and education programs.

Highlights

Cities represent the microcosm of both global economic development and environmental change and have increasingly gained a central role in applying the discourse of sustainability
Cities are the engines of economic growth, generating about 80% of the global gross domestic product (GDP) and making significant contributions to the creation of wealth, innovation, and cultural advancement [2]
Given the emergence of urban big data, we believe that urban policy-makers are faced with unique opportunities to develop, experiment, and advance more innovative urban targets and indicators relevant to sustainable development

Summary

Introduction

Cities represent the microcosm of both global economic development and environmental change and have increasingly gained a central role in applying the discourse of sustainability. Given the emergence of urban big data, we believe that urban policy-makers are faced with unique opportunities to develop, experiment, and advance more innovative urban targets and indicators relevant to sustainable development. These efforts can be a significant opportunity for developing countries, especially the least-developed countries, to leverage such innovations and leapfrog complex challenges related to urban safety, resilience, and broader sustainability goals. Urban big data results from the increasing availability of the daily data we generate in the urban environment These include, for example, data associated with urban sensors, e.g., Internet of Things (IoTs), administrative records, individual- or household-level survey data, geospatial imagery, commercial information, citizen science, and social media. In addition to more data access and advanced methodology, as raised in the second international conference on big data [11], we recommend the following three directions for future policy and research

Develop Mayoral Institutions for the Governance of Urban Big Data

Advance the Culture and Common Skill Sets for Applying Urban Big Data

Invest in Research and Education on Urban Big Data

Findings

Conclusions