Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

Enhancing local service delivery and residents’ engagement to shape liveable communities by deploying digital solutions

Power of digital

Cities can play a role in developing, testing, and scaling digital solutions, which can in turn shape inclusive, liveable, and resilient communities, from enhancing the delivery of local services to engaging residents

Opportunities

• Predictive systems for natural disasters
• Digital service delivery specific to local needs
• Data-driven decision-making for urban planning

Potential risks & digital harms

• Exclusion of marginalized populations
• Misuse of digital solutions for surveillance

balady

Balady is a national smart-municipalities ecosystem that offers more than 200 services related to e.g. sustainable urban development and city infrastructure. The platform enhances residents' quality of life by accelerating government services, allowing people to access the vast majority of them digitally and making physical visits necessary for less than 5% of services

Examples of countries implemented

Saudi Arabia

Power of digital

1. Increases residents' sense of belonging to their cities
2. Achieves excellence in service delivery
3. Engages communities at a hyperlocal level

“Balady is a world-class government platform that helped me to issue my trade-activity licences instantly”
_{Noorah Khaled, entrepreneur}

HOT Tasking Manager

HOT Tasking Manager is a tool used by volunteers globally to build a more robust map of the world. Without representation on a map, individuals are not counted or consulted. Billions of people live in areas that are unmapped

Examples of countries implemented

Projects are established any time there is a request, humanitarian need, or information gap; they are not assigned to a specific country or region

Power of digital

1. Crowdsources mapping data to improve lives
2. Divides the world into tiny grids, each mappable by volunteers
3. Allows mapping of the world’s most remote communities

“Engage one million contributors to map an area home to one billion people at risk of disaster or experiencing multi-dimensional poverty”
_{HOT mission statement}