Action plan – Hamburg, Germany, 2022 – 2024

At-a-Glance

Duration

Feb 2025

Date Submitted

30th November 2022

Foreword(s)

In 2012, Hamburg committed itself to the principles of open government by introducing its 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 Act. Our transparency portal provides free and anonymous access to all relevant data and documents of the city administration. The Digital Strategy for Hamburg adopted by the Senate in January 2020 also considers all areas of life in the city and strengthens proactive 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. By joining OGP Local, we are consistently pursuing the path of open governance.  

As a member of OGP Local, we will position and promote Hamburg’s open government agenda. Together with our civil society partner the Körber-Stiftung, we will address the city’s activities in the area 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... and data governance in a citizen-oriented way. Therefore, a key area of our efforts will be access to and usability of data in the city of Hamburg. 

We aim to further strengthen our 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... to promoting access to information, citizen participation and public accountabilityAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, public accountability occurs when ”rules, regulations, and mechanisms in place call upon government actors to justify their actions, act upon criticisms ... More. The development of our local action plan, which focuses on inclusive urban development, visibility and awareness for disadvantaged groups in terms of their mobility needs and challenges, and the promotion of inner-city dialogue, is based on participation, transparency and citizen involvement.  

Our action plan was developed in cooperation with civil society organizations, citizens and administrative staff. We will further establish and cultivate this approach during the implementation phase and continuously expand it by involving other stakeholders. 

Open Government Challenges, Opportunities and Strategic Vision

This subsection details the Open Government Strategic Vision in your local area that should guide the commitments for the action plan period.

What is the long-term vision for open government in your context and jurisdiction?

Hamburg has made several efforts and developed approaches to strengthen an open government culture. A central topic is data. We consider data and its management to be an important pillar for strengthening open government and civil society participation. This is reflected in various activities, including: Data Governance for Hamburg, Digital Strategy for Hamburg, and the Transparency Act. Hamburg considers the OGP Local initiative as a tool to continue strengthening its existing initiatives:

• Raise awareness of the potentials and challenges of increasing use of data in our society, identify the plurality of the data discourse and create spaces for dialogue.
• Using the open government approach to solve data-related challenges related to improving the quality of life of people with limited mobility and older people, as well as socially and economically disadvantaged groups of society, especially improving mobility for these groups.

These are two main motivations for the action plan.

What are the achievements in open government to date (for example, recent open government reforms)?

Hamburg is committed to the principles of open government and introduced its transparency law in 2012. The transparency portal provides free and anonymous access to all relevant data and documents of the city administration. Further, Hamburg has been a forerunner of digitalization and has been named Germany’s smartest city four times in a row by the Smart City Index.

The Digital Strategy for Hamburg considers all areas of life in the city-especially digital participationMany governments are creating online mechanisms for citizens to petition, call for action, and participate in making decisions on issues they care about.  Technical specifications: Refers to public p... More and urban data. The Urban Data Platform provides the necessary technical infrastructure for these pillars. It has successfully implemented the digital participation system DIPAS, combining an online participation tool with digital planning tables to create an integrated digital system for citizen participation.

Another relevant project is the Cockpit for Urban Infrastructure, a map-based planning and visualization web application for integrated, digital, and sustainable neighborhood development. It provides different analysis tools for evaluating and combining socio economic data with data of social infrastructure. This allows planning of e.g., daycare centers, senior citizens’ assistance, or mobility.

In 2021, Hamburg started another cooperation project with Munich and Leipzig to create Connected Urban Twins – a data-based digital model of the entire city.  Dynamic, virtual 3D city models will be connected via an urban data platform. Thus, data can be used for analyses for urban development.

What are the current challenges/areas for improvement in open government that the jurisdiction wishes to tackle?

Hamburg has been working intensively for years to establish an open government culture. Improving and expanding our open government culture is an integral part of our self-conception. Among other things, we strive for the following:

• Encountering marginalized groups and dealing with their challenges in terms of inclusive urban development.
• Increasing data sensitivity and strengthening data literacy for the public administration and general civil society.
• Developing data sovereignty through multiplier effects of different organizations/target groups.
• Exchanging information about and interlocking innovation projects within the administration across disciplinary boundaries.

Intensifying the discussion between the public administration and civil society with the following actions: participation and empowerment as an essential factor for good public administration (both for the success of technical innovation projects and in the face of improving trust in public institutions).

What are the medium-term open government goals that the government wants to achieve?

According to the current coalition agreement, the medium-term Open Government objectives for Hamburg are:

• Shaping modern and citizen-friendly public administration
• Strengthening the use of data for decision-making
• Strengthen the digital and data sovereignty of the state
• Secure and expand digital infrastructures
• Digitalization and social responsibility

How does this action plan contribute to achieve the Open Government Strategic Vision?

The action plan aims to help achieve the strategic vision by making commitments in these areas.

• The first commitment intends to inform different groups about data and the increased use of data in our society and opens rooms for dialogue. On the one hand, it is intended to break down access barriers to the field of data, an area which is still considered to be an expert topic which is hardly accessible. On the other hand, we want to strengthen data sovereignty and self-determined handling of data. By promoting data literacy among certain groups, we hope to increase the use and cultivation of our existing open government initiatives.
• With the second commitment, we want to use the potential of data-based technologies for an inclusive urban development in the mobility sector. To do this, we use data which is already available to the public. The planned projects are intended to serve as a model for other open data innovations that make life in our city more livable and inclusive.

How does the open government strategic vision contribute to the accomplishment of the current administration’s overall policy goals?

The strategic vision of open government harmonizes and supports the implementation of Hamburg’s action plan by defining aspects of open government that have an impact on the development of our city.

In the current action plan 2022 – 2025, we want to strengthen data awareness, sovereignty, and literacy for different groups of Hamburg. Our planned dialogue forums are directly linked to the realities of life and work of different groups and to existing open government initiatives, to create real points of contact and sustainable development.

Similarly, the action plan described in detail the need to make significant progress in the further development of inclusive urban design with the help of data-based innovations. The open government vision directly supports these projects by, for example, promoting the open accessibility of data, which in turn can be used to develop innovations to improve mobility services for disadvantaged groups.

Engagement and Coordination in the Open Government Strategic Vision and OGP Action Plan

Please list the lead institutions responsible for the implementation of this OGP action plan.

• Senate Chancellery, Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Department for IT and Digitalization
• Körber-Stiftung

What kind of institutional arrangements are in place to coordinate between government agencies and departments to implement the OGP action plan?

Potential task:

• Implementing internal and external communication channels on the implementation process of the action plan.

The city’s administration ensures cross-department coordination by holding regular working groups and board meetings. In this context, we will ensure the communication and progress of the action plan by regularly reporting to the digital management boards which includes political representatives as well as leading public servants.

What kind of spaces have you used or created to enable the collaboration between government and civil society in the co-creation and implementation of this action plan? Mention both offline and online spaces.

The steering group (ITD, Körber Stiftung) is responsible for the development process of the action plan, the measures for implementation and the implementation of the monitoring of the results. Decisions are made collectively. Other tasks include:

• Discussing matters related to the participation and involvement of further stakeholders.
• Designing stakeholder screening processes and preparing decision-making processes.

The MSF is an advisory body that includes several different stakeholders. It participates in the elaboration of commitments as well as in their implementation and monitoring.

Through the co-creation, we asked 40 public management students from the University of Applied Sciences to evaluate the commitments by using the SMART criteria. The results were incorporated into the design of the commitments. In addition, as part of the Open City Forum, we organized a workshop for stakeholders and citizens to discuss the requirements associated with our OGP Local participation.

What measures did you take to ensure diversity of representation (including vulnerable or marginalized populations) in these spaces?

To ensure diversity of representation in our spaces, we conducted a comprehensive stakeholder analysis as a first step to include a broad range of different stakeholders in the MSF. When selecting civil society organizations to be part of the MSF, we ensured that they have expertise that takes into account particularly vulnerable groups, such as people with disabilitiesA government is not open unless it is accessible to all, and governments are working to ensure people with disabilities are afforded equitable services and opportunities to participate. Technical spec... and marginalized populations.

In a next step, our steering group will further consider feedback from MSF members regarding stakeholders to be included for the sub-working groups. In the composition of the individual sub-working groups, particular attention will be paid to different diversity criteria such as age, genderOGP participating governments are bringing gender perspectives to popular policy areas, ensuring diversity in participatory processes, and specifically targeting gender gaps in policies to address gov... More, migration, public-private citizens, etc.

Who participated in these spaces?

The total number of participants in the co-creation processCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders (e.g., citizens, academics, private sector) is at the heart of the OGP process. Participating governments must ensure that a dive... was 15 persons. The composition was as follows:

• Representatives of civil society organizations – 9
• Total government participants (per area) 3
• Academic participants (network or institution) – 1

Private sectorGovernments are working to open private sector practices as well — including through beneficial ownership transparency, open contracting, and regulating environmental standards. Technical specificat... More – 2

How many groups participated in these spaces?

9

How many public-facing meetings were held in the co-creation process?

7

How will government and non-governmental stakeholders continue to collaborate through the implementation of the action plan?

Sub-working groups will be established next to the MSF to coordinate and collaborate on the implementation of each commitment. The sub-working groups will include stakeholders/interest groups from Hamburg who have already gained experience in the topic areas to be worked on.

Each sub-working group will meet quarterly to plan activities, coordinate responsibilities among implementing partners, identify and address implementation challenges, and discuss updates and milestones.

Please describe the independent Monitoring Body you have identified for this plan.

The monitoring of the action plan is chaired by Mr. Frederick Richter, Director of Stiftung Datenschutz. The monitoring process is based on the OGP Local procedure, i.e., an assessment is made after completionImplementers must follow through on their commitments for them to achieve impact. For each commitment, OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) evaluates the degree to which the activities outlin... More of the co-creation process and each time a commitment has been implemented.

Provide the contact details for the independent monitoring body.

• Frederick Richter, Director Stiftung Datenschutz, richter@stiftungdatenschutz.org

What types of activities will you have in place to discuss progress on commitments with stakeholders?

As part of our steering group, we will be collectively responsible for monitoring and evaluating OGP activities. Our tasks include:

• Developing and jointly implementing monitoring activities.
• Assisting the public to constructively participate in the OGP process.
• Maintaining communication with government agencies and civil society responsible for implementing commitments during the implementation period through the multi-stakeholder forumRegular dialogue between government and civil society is a core element of OGP participation. It builds trust, promotes joint problem-solving, and empowers civil society to influence the design, imple... and sub-working groups.
• Build partnerships between all forms of media and the OGP process.

Monitor and report on the performance of the OGP.

How will you regularly check in on progress with implementing agencies?

As the lead coordinator and member of the steering group, the Department for IT and Digitalization (Senate Chancellery, Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg) accompanies the implementation of the individual commitments directly and throughout and report back to the steering group.

Currently, we plan to provide a status update once per quarter. If there are extraordinary reasons for a status update, additional meetings will be scheduled.

How will you share the results of your monitoring efforts with the public?

The results of the implementation will be made available to the public:

• Communication through traditional media/news press as well as posting of materials and status updates on social media.
• Decisions and results of our Steering Group meetings on progress will be made publicly available.

In addition, the “Data Dialogue” commitment represents a participatory format in which we will actively engage and inform stakeholders.

Endorsement from Non-Governmental Stakeholders

• Stadtwerkstadt Hamburg
• City Science Lab, Hafen City University Hamburg
• AKTIVOLI-Landesnetzwerk Hamburg
• Code für Hamburg e.V.
• Gov Data
• Transparency International, Helena Peltonen-Gassmann, Dr. Sabrina Korreck