Empowering Cities with Better Data - Accessible and Actionable Data for Policy and Decision Making

Evidence-based policies and actions are key to achieve sustainable urbanisation and advance the implementation of the SDGs. Robust data and timely quantitative evidence across territorial levels, from national and regional to local, are critical tools for policymakers and all stakeholders involved in urban development. Both global and context-specific data are needed to inform policy decision-making and support concrete local action. However, data producers and data users do not always align in terms of needs, formats, accessibility, or timing. This limits the accessibility, comparability and effective use of evidence in policymaking. The OECD Local Data Portal helps address these challenges by improving intuitive access to granular, timely and internationally comparable indicators that enable comparisons across territories and situate local performance within regional, national, and global contexts. Developed as part of the OECD’s long-standing commitment to data-driven policy, the portal covers key SDG-related topics, from housing and demography to climate, and supports cross-sector analysis along all stages of the policy cycle. This networking event will facilitate the exchange of innovative data tools, practices and strategies to strengthen the use of evidence and SDG-relevant indicators in local policymaking. Bringing together both data producers and data users, the session will feature perspectives from international organisations, national agencies, city networks and local administrations, and will facilitate the feedback loop bridging the gap between policy users and the technical community, to ensure solutions remain aligned with users' needs and expectations. It will highlight how global initiatives such as Geo Human Planet and funding mechanisms like the ICLEI Action Fund help move from isolated pilot projects to scalable, inclusive and sustainable data ecosystems. The event will also showcase how data providers, including the European Space Agency (ESA) and Azercosmos, are improving access to their data through interoperable catalogues and user-driven data portals providing actionable information on the interconnected factors that shape urban environments. These efforts underpin applied tools, such as geo-enabled systems supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which are integrated in the implementation of ADB-funded projects on housing and that require cross-sector integration.