Open Data Contribution in the Urban Management: A Case Approach during the Covid-19 Crisis

In the current era, modern cities meet several challenges in providing citizens with an appropriate level of services to manage urban development. Knowledge management and digital transformation are recurrent themes in governments agendas and technologies support policymakers as well as enable citizens towards a knowledge and digital-based perspective. In other words, in the past few years, thanks to the digitization process, city administrations have been capable of ensuring transparency and participation in the decision. In such a context, open data represents a valuable trend to face the threats opposing urban development. They can significantly improve the effectiveness of local policies and the quality of life of citizens. Open data, publicly shared by modern cities, made this process possible. They allow researchers and private citizens to investigate matters related to public services, providing powerful insights for policymakers improving the shared value inside the city borders. This study investigates how the transportation sector has been affected by policymakers’ decisions during the period of lock-down established in the area of the metropolitan city of Rome. The data used for the purpose of the study are related to the car accidents that occurred before and during the pandemic emergency, provided by an open data initiative of the municipality of Rome. This research provides useful insights about how the Italian policymakers managed the crisis due to the pandemic emergency. Investigating how specific policies actually affect mobility represents a valuable point of comparison in managing comparable future crises. It also shows how it is possible to spread technology and data-oriented culture to lead to an actual improvement of the open data provided by public administrations in quantity as well as in quality. Thus, a technology and data oriented culture can represent the indispensable base for open innovation to be applied to the Italian’s public services.