Improving decision-making in South African cities through data-driven ecosystems

Data ecosystems are increasingly playing an important role in improving evidence-based decision-making in South Africa’s development landscape. In addition to Statistics South Africa’s socio-economic data, emerging data platforms such as the National Strategic Hub and the Spatial Economic Activity Data dashboards provide the latest data and trends to inform real-time decision-making. Metropolitan municipalities, such as eThekwini and Cape Town, have established in-house data platforms, yet there is little information on how these platforms are used to improve decision-making and service delivery for urban development. Against this backdrop, this paper seeks to interrogate how municipalities use data ecosystems for improved decision-making and service delivery in these selected South African metros to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. Methodologically, this paper uses data from semi-structured interviews with officials from the two metros. The paper contributes to unearthing the role played by data ecosystems in improving evidence-based decision-making and policymaking in South African cities.