Abi Taylor: Trust between citizens, authorities key to working with urban data

Trust between urban communities, local authorities and public organizations plays an important role in the effective use of urban data.

Report informs that Abi Taylor, a representative of the Judith Nelson Foundation, said this during a panel discussion titled "From Community Data to Public Impact: Perspectives of Experts with Practical Experience," held as part of the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku.

According to her, data collection can have a truly transformative impact on urbanism, but this requires long-term and sustainable partnerships between city residents, municipalities and civil society institutions.

The expert explained that people share data that makes them vulnerable or highly visible, so mutual trust is extremely important and takes considerable time to build.

Taylor noted that municipalities' readiness to integrate public data into their work varies sharply. She cited Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, as a successful example where authorities actively apply mapping and public data in urban planning.

At the same time, the expert stressed that not only data collection, but also the ability to convince authorities to trust this data remains an important issue.

Taylor added that public data helps not only to record the existing reality, but also to shape a long-term vision for the future of cities, including by increasing their preparedness for natural disasters and modernizing infrastructure in informal settlements.