Urban Data Research Centre, University of Toronto

Urban data is crucial to the design and planning of smart cities and will become ‘mission critical’ in the management and operations of smart city digital platforms, systems and services. Most important, the need to share urban data across city services and external stakeholders, is key to gaining insights, informing decisions, and improving the delivery of programs and services for well-run cities that are equitable and inclusive. As a part of the University of Toronto School of Cities, the Urban Data Centre’s team of interdisciplinary academic researchers and industry practitioners focuses on identifying the opportunities and solving the challenges facing smart cities, helping cities create and deliver data-enabled programs and services that benefits all its citizens. Our Vision We are a leader in the development of urban data meta-data, standards and practices for smart cities. In addition, we are a Center of Excellence for urban data research with the goal of helping cities achieve and measure sustainable, resilient, inclusive and equitable service outcomes. We leverage the potential of urban data to enhance the design, planning and operations of smart cities. To achieve this, we break down traditional data 'silos' within cities, to give them greater interoperability and control over their digital infrastructure.