E-government

Private companies have long focused on ‘customer experience’ as central to success, especially as digitalisation has accelerated. Although they have very different goals, cities are starting to use some of the same tactics to improve services and meet...

The City and County of San Francisco has named Cyd Harrell as its new Chief Digital Services Officer. She will oversee San Francisco Digital Services, a city agency focused on working with departments to improve service design. “Cyd’s wealth...

Bloomberg Philanthropies has launched a new City Data Alliance programme to help cities that use advanced data-driven decision-making to take their work to the next level. The initiative will identify 100 cities from across North and South America...

Japanese technology company Fujitsu and researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) are collaborating on the development of a ‘social digital twin’ that could be used to model traffic, economic activity, and climate and public health measures. Masami Mizutani,...

Details have emerged for how residents in Saudi Arabia’s Neom will be able to control the use of their personal data, including trading it for rewards. Neom Tech & Digital Company, the organisation responsible for the IT infrastructure...

A new centralised agency is being established in Latvia’s capital Riga to improve digital services and the use of data. The creation of the office, which will begin its work from April 1, is inspired by other cities...

A call is open to find cities to pilot a new digital rights governance framework. The initiative from the Cities Coalition for Digital Rights, UN-Habitat, UCLG and Eurocities, in partnership with Open Society Foundations, aims to help cities...

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has issued an executive order to consolidate all city technology agencies under a single authority in a bid to streamline operations and improve internal co-operation. The work of several formerly independent agencies...

Cities are beginning to pay closer attention to blockchain, viewing it as a fundamental shift that they cannot afford to ignore. Sarah Wray explores the potential use cases and the implications for ethical governance. Blockchain is one of...

A new tool which highlights how American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds are being used by local authorities has been released by non-profit organisation Results for America and policy research firm Mathematica. Priorities include COVID-19 response, public health,...