The certification, which was launched in 2017, recognizes cities for “establishing exceptional data capabilities,” impacting areas including policy, funding, service delivery, program evaluation and resident engagement. In 2022, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Results for America — the organizations driving the initiative — announced it was expanding to include international cities.
The most recent round of certifications was announced in June 2024, and with Wednesday’s announcement, the total number of cities that have received the WWC Certification is 104, including cities in Central, North and South America. As of Wednesday, 700 cities have submitted assessments since 2017 to receive the WWC Certification.
Eight of the newly certified cities are in the United States: Burlington, Vt.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Fort Worth, Texas; Newark, N.J.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Raleigh, N.C.; Reno, Nev.; and Savannah, Ga. Cities in Canada, Brazil, Argentina and Chile also received certifications.
The data use cases vary by city. For example, Burlington’s evaluation of housing data informed updated zoning laws; the goal was to increase housing supply, and 44 new multifamily units were permitted under the new code within eight months.
Another unique case is Raleigh, which received its WWC Certification for its use of data to assess tree distribution citywide and inform the strategic planting of 700 trees to city locations based on need — and this is not the only way the city is using data.
“I would say that we have been on a data maturity journey for a while now,” said Raleigh GIS and Emerging Technology Manager Jim Alberque.
That journey has three main components: 1) the city’s GIS and data analytics foundation allows staff and citizens to use data in new ways; 2) there is a demand from citizens for the city to find new ways to leverage data; and 3) there is interest at an organizational level in more effective data usage.
The city’s digital twin — a virtual model of the city — is a mechanism with which the city can analyze and share information about heat island data. That work served as an input into the city’s tree equity work, Alberque said.
Raleigh Urban Forester Zach Manor said the tree inventory allowed the city to look holistically at tree equity data overlaid with other information like stormwater mitigation and heat islands, to inform future tree distribution: “All these things add to the picture to help us with prioritization.”
A project like this can be challenging in that its impact will largely be a long-term one. While tree distribution may immediately be more equitable throughout the city, the entire picture — including impact on urban heat, improved stormwater mitigation and potential property value increases — will become clearer in the future. Although the return on investment may not be instant, Manor said the city can look to similar projects in other places to create expectations for the important impacts to come.
For Raleigh, Manor said the data also plays a role in showing constituents the grander vision of what this project will do for the city. This vision includes constituents’ feedback and relationship building with the community. Residents share input on the type of tree they would like to see, and they have the option to opt out of having a tree planted in front of their house. However, he said that many who initially said no to having a tree planted in front of their house were more interested in doing so after seeing the first round planted.
“I think that the tree equity project is a microcosm of the interactions that we’re hoping to have with citizens,” Alberque said.
Another way the city is using data and GIS technology is in its applications of titanium dioxide to streets to address heat islands. And because a strong data foundation can pave the path for artificial intelligence (AI), Raleigh is also implementing exploratory AI use cases for pattern recognition within data sets as well as AI-powered imaging for its digital twin, Alberque noted. He credited the strong data foundation the city has established for being able to use data to improve services.
“From an organizational perspective, there are probably very few projects that are being executed without data at this point,” Alberque said.
