Understanding the Open Data Challenge for Building Smart Cities in India

Recent advancements in digital technologies provide opportunities to collect, organise, process and share data at an unprecedented scale. Many smart cities are embracing these technologies to foster an Open Data culture through the provision of city datastores. We, in this chapter, examine the Open Data policies and platforms in India to reveal the status, challenges and opportunities of building and sustaining city data architectures. A careful selection of case studies of city datastores informs the evolution of the sites, the availability of data across urban sectors and the limitation and breakthroughs of the projects. We find that the city Open Data platforms are more likely to sustain if developed and operated at a regional level, rather than at the national level—where past initiatives have shown limited success. The chapter benchmarks the Indian city datastores with global case studies for identifying a series of recommendations and inspirations. We propose that the leading Indian cities must significantly expand capabilities for capturing real-time information and bring them together through open city dashboards to support informed policymaking. We provide a direction for public authorities in India and across the global south to leverage Open Data for shaping smart cities.