Page 17 - Building digital public infrastructure for cities and communities

1.1 Understanding digital public infrastructure for cities

There have been numerous treatments of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in the industry. At its
simplest, DPI can be understood as an intermediate layer in the digital ecosystem. International
approaches to DPI vary from being totally decentralised and open source on one side, to centralised
and proprietary on the other side. Hybrid approaches have been also reported.

DPI sits atop the physical layer. It enables applications across various sectors (for example,
information systems and solutions to different verticals, e-commerce, social protection, remote
education and telehealth) to exchange data securely, and to scale and interoperate/interwork in
an open and inclusive manner. The focus on reusable and horizontal foundational digital elements
is a paradigm shift from conventional approaches to digitalization that have, in many cases, led to
fragmentation and siloes (World Bank, 2023).

In 2024, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defined DPI as a set
of shared, secure and interoperable digital systems designed to support broad access to public
and private services. Examples include digital identity, data sharing systems, digital payments,
and digital post and notifications. These DPI systems act as common digital building blocks that
underpin government processes and services and enable digital government transformation at
scale. Key benefits identified include offering socio-economic advantages, generation savings
and efficiency gains for the public sector and the private sector. Alongside economic gains, DPI
can promote inclusivity, service resilience, security and user satisfaction, providing essential
infrastructure for efficient, scalable and innovative services. The main benefits identified include

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