Responding to the Global Urban Planning Challenge: Developing an Open Innovation Competition

The pace of urbanisation in many Commonwealth Countries in Asia and Africa is without precedent. For example, in Africa urban populations are expected to triple by 2050. However, there is a critical shortage of reliable, easy-to-use, data-driven planning and mapping tools to support planning decision-making in rapidly urbanising countries. Cost-effective, user-led, data-driven products and services have the potential to significantly improve the capacity of local governments and communities to make planning decisions and strategic infrastructure investments that are evidence-based and in line with sustainable and equitable development principles. A challenge prize holds potential to drive innovation in this space. This session will explore the points where a prize could have significant leverage, including a dive into the nature of the problem; current barriers to developing, using and scaling data-driven tools; and strategies to engage innovators, cities and stakeholders to accelerate innovation.