Conclusion
This paper has discussed the development of platforms or interfaces for urban data management, often called ‘city dashboards’ or ‘datastores’, as supportive infrastructure in the development of smart city governance models. It has addressed a range of different urban data platforms developed by city governments, introducing a typology of urban data platforms that span data snapshots, datastores and scorecards. This typology aims to clarify how different platforms reveal different functional logics of urban data platforms. The discussion has aimed to show that like an iceberg, perhaps slowly melting, that which is visualised and revealed by urban data platforms may not, in fact, the whole story. Underpinning their interfaces and perceived ‘top down visions’ (e.g. maps) are a range of socio-technical engagements, collaborative forums, and technical and governance challenges, being negotiated daily by a range of actors both within and outside city administrations. It is hoped that by engaging with a broader set of policy challenges and settings to which city dashboards respond, this discussion has helped to clarify their role as important domain for urban policy and practice in a world of data-driven services and smart cities.
