Case Set

Data and Evidence Case Set

Authors Lisa C. Cox, Warren Dent, Alex Green, Howard Husock, Jorrit de Jong, Dan Levy, Elizabeth Linos, Gaylen W. Moore, Eric Weinberger

Last Updated
Apr 23, 2025
Topic
Data and Evidence
Location
Global

Overview

Data can empower cities to become more effective, efficient, and responsive to their residents. But how can local governments expand their data capabilities? Explore this teaching case set featuring leaders in different stages of becoming more data informed and learn how everybody in an organization can become both better consumers and better commissioners of data.

Introduction

This set of teaching cases features mayors and other city leaders who used data to address problems in their communities—from the most routine (fixing potholes) to the most intractable (eliminating homelessness)—as well as to improve government performance and transform the organizational culture within city hall. The learning objectives for which these teaching cases were developed include:

Using data effectively to diagnose problems, identify solutions, measure progress, and determine success.
Improving effectiveness, equity, and accountability in city government by managing performance, building data fluency, and creating the conditions for a data-informed, learning-oriented city hall.
Developing data-analytic capabilities to address complex urban challenges by constantly and systematically using data to arrive at answers and make organizational change.
Examining potential barriers of problem-oriented government action by learning how to diagnose problems, using data to decide where to start when tackling large, thorny problems such as homelessness, and naming and creating a plan to address the barriers a city government might face when trying to become more data informed.
Identifying, piloting, and rigorously testing the effectiveness of promising practices and policies to improve talent management in organizations.

Cases come with educator guides (suggested session plans for use in academic courses) and practitioner guides (suggested session plans for standalone workshops) as they become available. As a set of curricular materials, this collection of cases lends itself well for courses and training on: