Ramon Canal Oliveras talks about the use of city data and urban indicators in the city of Barcelona

Ramon Canal Oliveras is the Director of the Technical Programming Cabinet of Barcelona City Council. Before joining the Cabinet, Ramon was the Coordinator of investigation in the Institute of Government and Public Policy. Earlier in his career, he worked as an Associate Professor in the department of Political Science of the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (UAB), after working for several years for Manresa City Council.

What does your job involve?

My role is to direct the Technical Programming Cabinet. It gathers municipal statistics, carries out public surveys on a variety of topics and elaborates studies on socio-economic aspects as well as on the performance of Barcelona City Council. I coordinate these different departments that overall generate and/or analyse data which gives shape to Barcelona’s policies.

What types of indicators does the city of Barcelona use?

Barcelona applies a range of indicators in different fields: economic, social, sanitary, educational, cultural, and environmental. They help to monitor how the city, including 1.6 million inhabitants, is evolving, with both a metropolitan and a micro view on its 10 districts and 73 neighbourhoods. Mostly we use contextual indicators, such as air quality, water quality, and green spaces. However, we also use several output indicators, which measure the performance of services. For example, the number of users of a park, their level of satisfaction and impressions on how to improve it. What are less common are outcome indicators, namely those that demonstrate that a policy is addressing an issue through a causal relationship. There are indicators that can be used as proxies, but very robust links to impacts are not readily available.

In which areas does the city of Barcelona perform well and which are the potential areas of improvements?

Overall, I believe the city performs well in the delivery of public services, including those linked to culture, education, transport, security and environmental protection. Areas for improvement include housing, where there is little public supply. This makes it difficult to guarantee access to housing for every citizen. Another issue is air quality, which is polluted from transport, and perhaps more could be done to improve it. In addition, the city suffers from high unemployment. Although it is less in Catalonia than other regions of Spain, it is still high.

How can open data support the development of the city?

There is an important debate on open data happening right now. We are discussing to what extent open data contributes to transparency, and to what extent transparency contributes to democracy. Often open data is presented as something that can solve a range of problems, but we are also seeing some weaknesses. Not everyone understands how to use the data or analyse it. Our office is making efforts to turn open data into open knowledge. This means making information accessible and useful to citizens, and providing public instruments so they can carry out their own analysis. This can facilitate people to be more active in the public sphere and promote alternative views on public issues. Some institutions have strategic concerns about engaging the public in every debate, but if we really have ambitions for sustainability, I believe it is necessary to put data at the service of the wider public.

What novel ways does the city of Barcelona engage in data collection? For example with social media and big data?

We have been analysing social media for the past three years, looking at what topics are trending on the web. We have also set up a dedicated platform decidim.barcelona, which aims to provide a participatory space for citizens, allowing them to engage in municipal planning and policymaking. They can follow a growing number of policy debates, with associated documentation, make proposals and track progress.

In terms of big data, we have one initiative with a telecoms company who won the public tender of mobile telephony for the City Council. A condition of the tender was that they provide the Council with anonymous data. Assuming that a network operator might carry a third of the citizens in the city, from its data we can easily extrapolate to the whole population. For example, we can use phone signals to monitor patterns in public transport. There are concerns with this kind of data, particularly because of its links to commercial activities, but it has lots of potential. In the future, we hope to use big data to predict social vulnerability. It might allow us to tackle inequalities better.

What direct benefits are there for your city’s citizens in having access to city data?

At an individual level, the benefit is to be better guided in the city, allowing you to make the most of the opportunities that are offered, knowing when services are available, helping you chose the best mode of transport, or finding the school you need. At the community level, access to city data is useful because it gives people the power to engage in governance. When you have a problem or a request, you have a better awareness of the reality. This gives citizens power. Therefore, I believe that it is good that the citizens have access to this information.