۱٫ The digital revolution

۲٫ Urban management in context

۴٫ Data-driven urban management

۵٫ Discussion

۶٫ Conclusions

References

Abstract

Big data analytics and artificial intelligence, paired with blockchain technology, the Internet of Things, and other emerging technologies, are poised to revolutionise urban management. With massive amounts of data collected from citizens, devices, and traditional sources such as routine and well-established censuses, urban areas across the world have – for the first time in history – the opportunity to monitor and manage their urban infrastructure in real-time. This simultaneously provides previously unimaginable opportunities to shape the future of cities, but also gives rise to new ethical challenges. This paper provides a transdisciplinary synthesis of the developments, opportunities, and challenges for urban management and planning under this ongoing ‘digital revolution’ to provide a reference point for the largely fragmented research efforts and policy practice in this area. We consider both top-down systems engineering approaches and the bottom-up emergent approaches to coordination of different systems and functions, their implications for the existing physical and institutional constraints on the built environment and various planning practices, as well as the social and ethical considerations associated with this transformation from non-digital urban management to data-driven urban management.

The digital revolution

Today, more than half of the world’s population live in cities and, by 2050, this is predicted to increase to more than two-thirds (United Nations, 2018). It is only in the last 25 years that human habitation of the planet has become predominantly urban and, at this point, society has shifted to a post-industrial, information era. There are many aspects to this shift, not least the pace of urban sprawl in emerging economies, the transition of employment into knowledge-based sectors, radical improvements in population health, reductions in mortality, increased longevity, and increased educational attainment. At the same time, this transition has given rise to a range of new challenges associated with managing populations living in urban agglomerations. The underlying economy has seen globalisation and the automation of previously labour-intensive industries. These changes have paralleled social, political and economic developments in terms of reductions in absolute poverty, a growing middle class, but also led to radically increasing inequalities due to the richest in society becoming even richer. These complex and interdependent phenomena are among the challenges facing urban management today.