Cities Are Learning the Post-Pandemic Power of Technology

James Anderson, who leads the Government Innovation programs at Bloomberg Philanthropies, discusses what city leaders have learned from the Covid crisis. 

As the CityLab summit convenes in Amsterdam, urban leaders and experts are discussing how to better leverage technology and data to serve their residents. The event, hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Aspen Institute, is designed to encourage problem-solving and networking among city officials. 

James Anderson leads the Government Innovation programs at Bloomberg Philanthropies. He spoke about how cities are putting a greater focus on using data to innovate. 

What positive changes are occurring in cities as we come out of the pandemic — or at least learn to live with it?

One of the most positive changes to come out of the pandemic was the way local governments accelerated their digitization efforts — shifting delivery of services online and creating new ways to reach and support the people who, for too long, have been left out. That’s a trend that will continue as cities everywhere — from Butuan, to Mexico City, to Baltimore — deepen their investment in digital capacities.

People saw the critical role local governments played in addressing a global crisis. And they can expect cities will continue to play a similar role in tackling many others — including the migration and climate crises. I hope this translates not only into greater resident engagement, but also greater trust in local government and greater turnout at local elections.    

Many leaders attending this week’s summit are looking for more information on how they can adopt digital tools to manage their cities. What are some examples of ways cities are driving this kind of innovation?

Data is driving public innovation all over the globe. In Amsterdam, it’s empowering residents in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods to reshape their community. In Rotterdam, it’s at the root of a digital-token program that aims to increase social impact. And in Wellington, it’s helping the city create a digital twin to incite resident engagement around climate change.   

Your role has you talking to city leaders on a daily basis. What are their most pressing concerns? 

The talent crisis in local governments is huge. While we’ve all wrung our hands over the difficulties the private sector has in finding and keeping employees, local governments are experiencing the same problem but with fewer resources to address it. We simply invest too little in public-sector talent and do too little to uplift local-government employees. This, in turn, is compounding into an existential crisis of public-service delivery in our cities. 

We just lived through a global pandemic — where mayors jumped into action and looked to each other to share ideas, uplift solutions, and initiate a response from the bottom up. I know networks lit up at the start of the war in Ukraine, too, with European mayors quickly connecting to support their Ukrainian peers, share resources, and coordinate data on migration flows. Networks like these moved from “nice to have” to necessary virtually overnight. Now, we need to make sure these networks have the support they’ll need — from philanthropy, from nonprofits, from academia, and from national governments — to continue in this role.  

This will be the first in-person CityLab summit in three years. Why Amsterdam?

Amsterdam is at the forefront of policy innovation on sustainable economic growth, tourism and digital rights, among other areas, and its city leaders are always eager to try new ideas and share what works. That’s a spirit that gets to the heart of what Bloomberg Philanthropies is all about — helping cities learn from each other, innovate together, and fix the world while they’re at it.

Amsterdam is tackling some of the same challenges many cities face, but with a level of ambition that all cities can learn from. Be it bold reforms to reclaim the city center from overtourism, or the city’s focus on data access, right, privacy, and security, Amsterdam is relentless — and a world leader — when it comes to putting residents at the heart of its policy making.  


Jennifer Sondag is the executive editor for CityLab in New York