Smart cities and urban data platforms : designing interfaces for smart governance

The proliferation of smart city policies worldwide in recent years has seen digital infrastructure, urban data and software design play increasingly central roles in the contemporary governance of the city. This article addresses the role of urban data platforms in supporting the delivery of smart city initiatives by city governments, with a view to establishing a typology for effective strategic investments in urban data interfaces aligned to governance objectives. Drawing on a range of different interfaces and approaches, the article discusses the proliferation of urban data platforms through a set of distinct functions and typologies. The discussion aims to position urban data platforms as key sites for the development of new governance models for smart cities, and forums in which decision-makers, researchers, urbanists and technologists seek to test the potentials and pitfalls of data-driven methodologies in addressing a range of contemporary urban challenges.