Table 10 The key functions of strategic planning and policy office

• Promoting smart approaches through planning systems—making extensive use of data to guide urban planning and design and to encourage developers to deploy digital infrastructure to future proof new developments

• Analyzing population displacement and movement data for the strategic planning of city infrastructures, districts, and streets, thereby taking into account the emerging demands from the population

• Integrating information on the expectations/uses of the residents of the city districts in the construction of scenarios in response to the need for renewal, redevelopment, and development projects

• Developing master and comprehensive plans based on the analysis of the city data

• Integrating technology solutions and urban design solutions when developing urban plans and urban development projects

• Using a one-stop data analytic hub to bring and weave together data from a variety of city agencies and departments in order to regulate and govern the city and to solve related issues

• Collating and analyzing data from a variety of city agencies and departments to enable the city authorities to make decisions more effectively in the fight against crime and on the provision of public safety and quality of life of the city residents

• Prioritizing, based on data analysis, the development of the municipal system and ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness in the provision of urban services, enforcement of laws, as well as the transparency of the city authorities. Among the primary directions of the initiatives to deal with in this regard are:

 - Support of the city’s functions by communication with other city agencies, e.g., adoption of resolutions in the form of models based on data analysis

 - Data transfer by establishing a platform for exchange of data among various departments, combining data from different sources of various agencies and third party organisations. This can occur through cooperating with the ICT department and the operations centers of the city

 - Creation of open data portal to be available to anyone interested

• Developing and implementing strategies for technological development in the city

• Addressing issues of city-wide coordination and cooperation in the field of technologies, playing a bridging role, and advising various city agencies and departments on technological innovations