Introduction / Background

The United Nations Innovation Technology Accelerator for Cities (UNITAC Hamburg) is a UN entity managed by UN-Habitat with the support of the United Nations Office for Information and Communication Technology. It is a partnership between UN-Habitat, OICT, and HafenCity University, a German technical university with a focus on the built environment. UNITAC Hamburg supports national and local governments with their digital transition, applying a multi-level governance strategy and helping them build skills and capabilities to develop, procure and effectively use digital technologies in an ethical and inclusive way to make sure that no one is left behind. UNITAC Hamburg is part of the “People-Centered Smart Cities” Flagship program of UN-Habitat, which provides strategic and technical support on digital transformation to national, regional and local governments. The projects and tools developed by UNITAC aim to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and more specifically goal 11: make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. More information on the initiative can be found at: https://unitac.un.org/

Purpose

The purpose of the Call for Proposals is to solicit proposals from interested non-profit and/or civil society organizations to provide technical support in developing a toolkit on use of artificial intelligence (AI) for spatial mapping and analysis for urban planners and policy makers. We are looking for an organization to conduct desk-based research and interviews to develop a toolkit on how urban planners can adopt AI solutions in undertaking urban planning and addressing urban challenges. The toolkit should provide practical insights and include case studies on how artificial intelligence and related technologies are and can be applied to enhance urban spatial mapping, land use planning, infrastructure development and data-driven urban development.

What we are looking for

The selected organization will work directly with UN-Habitat, and partner organizations in UNITAC (UN-OICT and Hafen City University). The organization needs to have demonstrated experience in research and technical expertise in the topics of geoAI and smart cities and should have the capacity to design a comprehensive toolkit covering different aspects of the application of AI in urban planning and management. The selected organization is expected to undertake the following activities:

• Conduct comprehensive desk-based research to document trends, methods and case studies of existing geoAI technologies and solutions and produce a narrative report on the key findings.
• Organize a collaborative co-creation workshop bringing together diverse stakeholders including local government practitioners, urban planning professionals, researchers and policy makers.
• Participate in bi-weekly progress reviews, share interim findings and co-develop content with UNITAC partners.
• Draft 2-page snapshot for each selected case study (minimum of 10) capturing how AI was integrated in geo-spatial mapping, analysis and planning and lessons learned.
• Compile all collected and relevant material into a toolkit, which would act as a guide to cities interested in applying geoAI in urban planning processes

Submission Requirements and Guidelines

Applicants shall submit their technical proposals following the guidance provided in the call for proposals document by email until the specified deadline to the attention of Abdinassir Sagar to this e-mail address: abdinassir.sagar@un.org

Contact Information

Should you require further clarification on the call, please contact Abdinassir Sagar, Programme Management Officer, UNITAC, UN-Habitat, abdinassir.sagar@un.org