End of Commitment Report – Sustainability data as Open Data
Overview
Section 1.
Commitment completion
1.1 What was the overall level of progress in the 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... implementation at the time of this assessment?
limited
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
For various reasons, the city of Detmold has not yet published sustainability data as 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.... On the one hand, here are relevant open data portals at the federal and state levels, such as GovData and Open.NRW, and it would be easy to upload existing datasets there. On the other hand, it is not desirable for datasets to be uploaded to these portals in a disjointed manner and without a clear strategy.
At the same time, the city of Detmold has already made great progress in the open provision of data. However, the connection to the open data portals was not chosen for this, but rather the georeferenced integration into the geoportal, the climate portal of the city of Detmold, the analysis tool, and the sustainability budget in particular.
Once a data strategy has been defined and the data inventory has been completed, suitable datasets that can be published as open data must be selected in a targeted manner.
Provide evidence that supports and justifies your answer:
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 was consulted for this, which based its identification on the various topic areas of the sustainability strategy, based on the 17 SDGs.
A data inventory was carried out together with the DKSR (Data Competence Centre for Cities and Regions) in support of the use case development for a sustainability index at the neighborhood level. The response from the administration was rather restrained, and hardly any existing data records were reported back. It became clear that more intensive preparation and training of administrative staff are essential in order to build up basic data skills and recognize the relevanceAccording to the OGP Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should include a clear open government lens. Specifically, they should advance at least one of the OGP values: transparency, citizen partic... of data sets.
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. These measures should increase awareness of the handling and importance of data and have a positive influence on co-creation processes and citizen participationAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, citizen participation occurs when “governments seek to mobilize citizens to engage in public debate, provide input, and make contributions that lead to m... More.
To date, the provision of open data is not mandatory for local authorities in Germany. In fact, it is mainly large cities that operate open data platforms or use the open data portals at the federal or state level. In Detmold, the initial challenge was to gain an overview of which data is collected or available and how sustainability data should be defined. After that, a strategy must be defined for the uniform handling of existing and future data pools that involves issues such as 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, data protection, and data security, but also competition and the economic consequences of the use of data in the context of digital services of general interest.
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 data preparation and inventory proved to be more challenging than originally assumed. The administrative staff found it difficult to recognize and communicate data sets and were very reluctant to publish them as open data. The main concern here was data protection and data security.
In order to better prepare the topic, the focus was increasingly placed on data visualization, and a research project was launched with the Detmold Technical University to visualize data from the areas of mobility and living, and sustainable quarters for creating interesting use cases, which in turn can serve as a role model and inspiration in the administration. The research project will run until the end of 2025. The focus on data processing, sustainable consumption, and healthy living has been discontinued.
Provide evidence for your answer:
Workshop-Dokumentation-und-Abschluss
Nachhaltigkeitsdaten-fur-deine-Nachbarschaft_Steuerungsgruppensitzung
Welche-Daten-wollen-wir-erheben_Steuerungsgruppe_OGP
Section 2.
Did it open government?
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:
Marginal
Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.
Even if the city of Detmold has not yet made any data available as open data on the relevant platforms, existing data is made available openly via various platforms.
The city of Detmold still lacks a data strategy and a data platform that serves as a hub for the data and from which the data can be visualized on the one hand and made available as raw data as open data on the other.
As these basic requirements are currently under development, the handling of open data will evolve at the same time. Additional sensors are currently being installed in the urban area, which will provide environmental data in particular. These in turn are predestined for publication as open data.
Provide evidence for your answer:
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 level of information and the opportunity for citizens to participate were significantly improved during the term of the commitment. On the one hand, the sustainability budget was made available online; on the other hand, new content was added to the geoportal of the city of Detmold, and the climate portal of the city of Detmold was set up. The analysis tool is still under development, but already enables the visual linking of municipal strategy papers with concrete measures and targets. On the one hand, these resources make it possible to provide information, but also to set up participation formats on a broad informational basis.
On this basis and a concrete data strategy yet to be developed, data sets are to be identified that will be made available as open data and further promote open administrative action and opportunities for participation.
Provide evidence for your answer:
2.1.3 Did the government create or improve channels, opportunities or capabilities to hold officials answerable to their actions?
Yes
Degree of result:
Major
Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.
The sustainability budget is an effective channel for administrative accountability. Citizens can transparently understand how the municipal budget is linked to the achievement of the 17 SDGs. The analysis tool makes it possible to visually link the city’s strategy papers with the specific measures. Geodata is available via the geoportal of the city of Detmold and enables information and participation. The city of Detmold’s climate portal offers the opportunity to actively participate in the city’s climate neutrality process, either by proposing areas for renewable energies or by getting involved in the “Detmold 2035 e.V.” association, which serves as an implementation alliance consisting of officials, companies and the city community.
Provide evidence for your answer:
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 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...?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
Even if the city of Detmold has not yet made any data available as open data on the relevant platforms, existing data is made available openly via various platforms and will be extended in the future by implementing a data platform.
Provide evidence for your answer:
Section 3.
Lessons from
implementation
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 biggest learning from the commitment was that a central overview of the existing and collected data in the municipality is an essential prerequisite for enabling a strategic orientation of data provision. It also became clear that data can be provided in various ways in addition to publication as open data. It is a central concern of the city of Detmold to use existing structures, such as the geoportal or the climate portal, to leverage visualization potential and to develop use cases in order to provide targeted information for citizens.
In view of climate change, a strong focus is to be placed on environmental data in the future. As part of the city of Detmold’s climate neutrality process by the target year 2035, the focus will be on reducing CO2 emissions. To this end, data on building 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 efficiency, as well as sensor-based environmental data and traffic, should be raised and visualized. The commitment should therefore be continued with a stronger focus on data visualization and usability for urban society.
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