End of Commitment Report – Open interfaces and open standards for transparency in urban sustainability data

Name of Evaluator

Sabine Gabriel-Stahl

Email

[email protected]

Member Name

Detmold, Germany

Action PlanAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... Title

Action plan – Detmold, Germany, 2022 – 2025

CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action...

Development of smart infrastructures with open interfaces and open standards for higher transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More in urban sustainability data

Title

Open interfaces and open standards for transparency in urban sustainability data

Action

The city of Detmold wants to establish new, smart data infrastructures that enable the administration to prepare and make available data in a more user-friendly way. The infrastructure should be usable interactively and have a strong focus on the visual preparation of data. It should be possible to supplement the digital infrastructure with haptic applications, thus providing low-threshold access to data. The smart data infrastructure is to be built in an agile, iterative process and thus developed close to the needs of citizens.

Problem

Urban sustainability data is available in digital form, but it is not processed user-friendly way. Therefore, transparency is missing.

1.1 What was the overall level of progress in the commitment implementation at the time of this assessment?

limited

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

During the term of the commitment, new infrastructures were created and existing infrastructures were improved in order to make sustainability data easier to find, more accessible, and more urgent, particularly with regard to climate change. The geoportal was expanded, weather stations were installed, and the climate portal was introduced. In addition, a transparency-creating strategy and measures analysis tool is currently in the test phase.

However, there were challenges in gaining clarity about where and what data already exists or is collected in the administration, and in which file format it is available. It became clear that there is room for improvement in the area of data competence, and there is also a lack of a municipal data strategy in order to achieve a homogeneous understanding and a consistent standard in the handling of data. Only on this basis will it be possible to define reliable open interfaces and open standards for sustainability data in the next step.

Provide evidence that supports and justifies your answer:

Evidence_Commitment_1.pdf

1.2 Describe the main external or internal factors that impacted implementation of this commitment and how they were addressed (or not).

A major challenge of the commitment was to first identify the data sets that are to be classified as sustainability data and to determine whether and where these are collected in the administration. The sustainability steering group based its identification on the various topic areas of the sustainability strategy and the 17 SDGs. On the one hand, the data of interest identified would have made surveys and statistical surveys necessary, at least at the district level. On the other hand, the results correlated with the monitoring process for Detmold’s sustainability strategy, which identifies budgets for the individual fields of action and already tracks some of the identified data sets at a city-wide level using key figures and KPIs. This led to the conclusion that the focus should be on implementing and monitoring the sustainability strategy and that the results should be made more easily accessible and visualized for citizens in order to demonstrate their own options for action. This requirement was met by the development of the browser-based analysis tool “Knotdots”.

A use case for a sustainability index at neighbourhood level was created in collaboration with the DKSR (Data Competence Centre for Cities and Regions), which also looked at even lower-threshold data visualization using dashboards. This project is to be continued. A first approach is the installation of two weather stations with browser-based dashboards at locations that are particularly relevant in the context of flood protection.

There is a lack of uniform handling of data in the administration and of an overview of the available data and its allocation to a specific subject area. This situation is to be addressed with the creation of a municipal data strategy and training measures for all employees. Furthermore, the provision of data is not a mandatory municipal task, which means that the budget and personnel are not permanently available for continuation.

1.3 Was the commitment implemented as originally planned?

few of the commitment milestones were implemented as planned

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The planned user workshop did not take place until March 2024. Prior to this, the focus had been on setting up and improving the data infrastructures and visualization platforms. The new visible data basis at the beginning of 2024, consisting of the new geoportal, the analysis tool, the Detmold climate portal, and the weather stations, raised the question of whether a further visualization solution was needed at all or in the existing structures. In order to avoid creating duplicate structures, the focus was placed on the existing solutions. The workshop, therefore, focused more on the fundamental handling of data. Data mapping was carried out, with the result that a uniform data strategy is required due to the diversity of the data available in the administration. Based on this, standards and open interfaces for data in general and sustainability data in particular can be defined.

Provide evidence for your answer:

Workshop-Dokumentation-und-Abschluss

2.1.1. – Did the government disclose more information; improve the quality of the information (new or existing); improve the value of the information; improve the channels to disclose or request information or improve accessibility to information?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

Even if open interfaces and open standards for sustainability data have not yet been developed or defined, considerable progress has been made during the term of the action plan in the area of information provision, the preparation of sustainability data, and the available channels. The infrastructures with which the city of Detmold now publishes sustainability-related activities include the new geoportal, the climate portal, the analysis tool, the sustainability budget of the city of Detmold, and individual dashboard solutions, which need to be integrated into the overall concept.

Detmold citizens can obtain comprehensive and transparent information about the activities of the city administration with regard to climate protection and achieving climate neutrality, and record their own options for action.

Provide evidence for your answer:

Evidence_Commitment_11.pdf

2.1.2. – Did the government create new opportunities to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation inform or influence decisions; improve existing channels or spaces to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation/ inform or influence decisions; create or improve capabilities in the government or the public aimed to improve how the government seeks feedback from citizens/enables participation/ or allows for the public to inform or influence decisions?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The creation of the new infrastructures has given citizens the opportunity to actively participate in addition to information opportunities, particularly with regard to sustainability, climate protection, and climate impact adaptation. The city of Detmold’s climate portal is particularly important in this regard, as it gives citizens the opportunity to join the Detmold 2035 association and get involved in one of the current seven working groups to achieve climate neutrality ahead of schedule in 2045. In addition, it is possible to submit private areas for examination to see whether ground-mounted photovoltaic systems can be installed there. The city thus acts as a link and enabler to initiate citizen energyEnsuring universal access to sustainable, dependable, and affordable energy is critical to every aspect of prosperity. Increasing public oversight and transparency in the energy sector can help to ens... More communities.

Provide evidence for your answer:

Evidence_Commitment_12.pdf

2.1.3 Did the government create or improve channels, opportunities, or capabilities to hold officials answerable to their actions?

Not Applicable

2.1.4 Other Results

Not Applicable

2.2 Did the commitment address the public policy problem that it intended to address as described in the action plan?

Unclear

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

Openness and transparency with regard to administrative actions and sustainability activities are a high value of the Detmold municipal administration. However, whether this goal can be achieved or improved via open interfaces and open standards for sustainability data has remained unclear beyond the term of the Action Plan.

Transparency towards citizens was created through visualization tools, open communication and exchange, and participation formats, not through open interfaces and open standards alone. Nevertheless, the city of Detmold is striving to meet this requirement and the corresponding foundations in the future, such as the development of a data strategy and the development of data skills in the administration and the city society.

3. Provide at least one lesson or reflection relating to the implementation of this commitment. It can be the identification of key barriers to implementation, an unexpected help/hindrance, recommendations for future commitments, or if the commitment should be taken forward to the next action plan.

The abundance of datasets and the need to consider datasets individually as a municipality make a blanket solution for the provision of open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici... challenging. The focus on “urban sustainability data” is also sometimes difficult to grasp because, ultimately, almost all data collected and used by municipalities is related to sustainability in its different dimensions (environmental, social, economic). Although the collection and provision of open data is technically possible via the relevant open data portals, the clarity and consistency of the data must be guaranteed.

Data analysis at the neighborhood or district level is complex because it requires data aggregation, which is challenging for the municipality itself to provide in terms of capacity. In addition, it is difficult to define open interfaces and open standards for data sets if there is no uniform data strategy or a defined procedure for handling data. The Commitment should only be resumed once these basic requirements have been met. The focus is currently on activating citizens through visualization media and co-design processes.