Data-Driven Urban Governance: Opportunities and Challenges in Zimbabwean Cities

Abstract

The study investigated the opportunities and challenges associated with data-driven urban governance in Zimbabwean cities, focusing on Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare. It employed a qualitative, descriptive research design, drawing on document analysis and semi-structured interviews with municipal officials, urban planners and ICT officers. Guided by the theoretical lens of Technological Determinism, the research identified significant opportunities for improving urban governance through real-time data, predictive analytics, digital citizen engagement and smart city initiatives. However, it also revealed major constraints, including infrastructural deficits, the digital divide, outdated planning frameworks, fragmented data governance and low levels of digital literacy. The study concluded that, while data technologies held transformative potential, their effective implementation in Zimbabwe required strengthened institutional capacity, ethical data governance and inclusive digital development strategies. Without addressing these foundational issues, data-driven urban governance risked reinforcing existing structural inequities rather than resolving them.