Page 38 - Building digital public infrastructure for cities and communities

Urban markets depend on rural producers for food and raw material in many cases, while rural
farmers reply on urban demand and access to logistics and processing hubs. Open data ecosystems
exemplified by Telangana’s Agriculture Data Exchange (ADEx), an open-source interoperable
platform, enables discoverability and accessibility of important datasets (e.g., agriculture produce)
through appropriate consent management mechanisms. It dismantles information asymmetries,
empowering farmers with insights to optimize yields and reduce waste (Goel, 2023).

Similarly, Estonia’s integrated registries and X-Road Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) unify
land, ownership and soil data, enabling precision agriculture tools (e.g., eAgronom) that automate
compliance and enhance productivity, freeing farmers from administrative burdens while ensuring
resource-efficient practices (Kärner, 2017). Such data liquidity strengthens rural-urban supply chains
by synchronizing production with urban demand.

Additionally, protocol-based networks like Open Belém’s Beckn-driven platform create open and
ethical digital marketplaces. It positions Bélem as a digital hub through open digital networks
with sustainability, to establish a city-wide multisector open network across diverse sectors such
as education, employment, mobility, healthcare, commerce, energy and others. Belém’s Open
Network enable access to learning, employability and livelihood opportunities for all, thereby linking
Amazonian bioeconomy producers directly to global consumers and incentivizing sustainable
livelihoods (Bélem, n.d.; Mukherjee et al., 2023). Beckn is an open protocol that enables location-
aware local commerce across industries. The protocol is a set of recommendations and rules
that outline specific technical standards that be adopted for an industry, in a region or a market
among its participants to enable open interoperable connections between them. Beckn acts as a
transaction protocol that allows discovery, ordering, fulfilment and payment between buyers and
sellers (consumers and providers in the digital marketplace).

4.8 Multilateral cooperation and regional urban strategies

By harmonizing standards, pooling resources and synchronizing governance across borders, DPI
functions as a catalytic framework for multilateral cooperation, ultimately advancing integrated
regional urban strategies.

For example, Kazakhstan’s public-private model exemplifies this domestically: its Digital Kazakhstan
Programme fused government digital ID with private fintech APIs, digitizing 89 per cent of
transactions (2014-2024) and transforming cities into interconnected economic hubs. This national
success catalyses regional integration, as standardized payment and identity systems (e.g., eGov)
reduces friction in cross-border commerce (Suominen, 2024). Further reinforcing this, Brazil’s
unified registries, CadÚnico (social welfare), CAR (environmental land use) and Gov.br (digital ID),
demonstrate how interoperable DPI (i.e. in this case, national registries) enables vertical cooperation.
By linking federal, municipal and community data, these systems align urban planning with rural
sustainability goals (e.g., regulating Amazon deforestation) while ensuring equitable service
delivery (UNDP, 2023; ILO, 2022).

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