Page 42 - Building digital public infrastructure for cities and communities

and daily operations alike (GW, 2017). This integration shows how DPI can be embedded into the
physical fabric of cities to enable smarter, safer and more sustainable urban environments.

Similarly, Estonia’s renowned e-governance ecosystem illustrates this point most vividly. Anchored
by a secure digital identity and an interoperable data exchange layer (X-Road), Estonia has made
100 per cent of public services available online, while connecting more than 52 000 organizations
and supporting more than 2.2 billion transactions annually (e-Estonia, n.d.). Services that used to
take days now occur in minutes, saving the state an estimated 2 per cent of Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) per year in administrative costs (e-Estonia, 2025; European Commission, 2018).

5.3 Resilience, transparency and trust

In an era marked by increasingly frequent climate events, health crises and cyberthreats, cities must
build governance systems that are not only efficient, but also resilient, transparent and trustworthy.
DPI plays a pivotal role in strengthening these capacities, ensuring that governments can withstand
disruptions, engage citizens openly and foster long-term legitimacy.

Building urban resilience through DPI

The resilience of urban systems hinges on their ability to continue functioning during emergencies.
DPI provides a critical foundation for this by enabling uninterrupted communication, secured digital
data delivery, rapid service delivery and informed decision-making during crises. In Nairobi, for
example, informal settlements, highly vulnerable to natural hazards, have benefited from digitally
enabled community planning through the Kenya Informal Settlement Improvement Project (KISIP
II). This initiative leverages the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR)’s Digital
Public Works Model, an innovative approach to urban data collection, generation and validation that
aligns closely with the functions of DPI. Since 2022, more than 300 young people have been trained
to map infrastructure and collect urban data, helping local authorities’ direct resources to the most
at-risk areas. This localized, data-driven approach (although not highly sophisticated in terms of
digitization) has improved planning and reinforced urban resilience by aligning investments with
real needs (World Bank, 2023).

Similarly, countries and cities such as Singapore and Bengaluru are using digital powered flood
alert systems to manage urban flooding risks. In Bengaluru, the Megha Sandesha mobile app offers
real-time rainfall forecasts and flood warnings using more than 100 rain gauges and sensors, while
Singapore’s system integrates IoT-based sensors and closed-circuit television (CCTV) networks to
monitor water levels. These systems enable real-time alerts and automated responses, reducing
the impact of climate-related disasters and protecting infrastructure and residents (Banerjee et
al., 2022).

Resilience also includes public health readiness. In Rio de Janeiro, a predictive model for dengue
fever – powered by integrated climate and health data – has allowed the city to anticipate outbreaks
and allocate resources proactively. This kind of early-warning system reduces the burden on health

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