Public life data collection isn’t a one-sizefits-all process—it’s flexible, adaptable, and ready to meet you where you are. Whether you’re working solo or with a team, this Framework is here to support your project in any way that makes the most sense for you.
There’s no single starting point or perfect path.
Jump in, explore, and use this holistic approach to build a strong culture of data-driven planning and decision making.
Need more guidance? Check out the Framework Guide for deeper insights, step-bystep explanations, and helpful resources along the way.
Let’s kick off your Public life data collection!
Start by identifying the key challenges children and their families face in your community.
Before collecting Public life data, define the constraints that Public life data can help mitigate. Then identify the constraints that could block a Public life data project in terms of resources, feasibility or sustainability.
Try mapping core challenges and constraints as early as possible to best inform the project’s vision and by extension the data collection process.
Considerations for the project kick off
□ Budget: How much funding needs to be secured? Where is funding coming from?
□ Data: What datasets are available for a complete understanding of the local context? Are there gaps in the data?
□ Community-level challenges: What local challenges will you address through your project?
□ Regulations: What are the local laws, regulations and permits you need to navigate to ease permitting?
□ Timeline: What is a realistic project timeline and is there flexibility to handle unexpected events?
This Framework offers a step-by-step process to create vibrant, data-informed public spaces. Whether you’re launching a new project or assessing an existing one, this Framework walks through each phase of a public life data project, from planning to execution and evaluation.
A strong engagement plan and stakeholder coalition is essential for informing and sustaining a data informed planning practice and to build alliances.
Engaging stakeholders doesn’t stop at stage one, this can occur throughout any data process to ensure transparency and trust along the way.
An evaluation plan can be simple or complex, what’s important is that it is useful for data collection. Create an Evaluation Plan according to the overall vision, the research question and the scale of the site. Consider how the plan will enhance accountability and transparency with project stakeholders
Who is the project’s target audience? Who is on the receiving end of the final project? This is important for tailoring the engagement plan to activate them sensitively.
□ Develop a cadence of touch points for engaging the stakeholders. How often, where, and in what format will you involve them? Let them know your plans to ensure continued support.
Note down which steps you have already accomplished, or which you may want to revisit or tackle later
Now you are well on your way! Use the Shared Public Life Vision, the desired impacts, neighborhood level data and engagement insights to select a site for Public life data collection.
Backed by big data, site selection ensures that chosen sites are useful for collecting Public life data and for studying behaviors. Develop a clear selection criterion to prioritize data collection at impactful sites. Ask, “Which areas of the city can have the greatest impact in addressing public life challenges?”
Create a project process that best fits your team’s goals and capacity
Leverage data findings, resident stories, and visuals to craft a compelling narrative about your project. Engaging storytelling will strengthen opportunities to communicate and disseminate data stories to foster shared understanding. Storytelling is useful in different phases, from the analysis phase to the dissemination of results.
Identify an audience and tailor the project’s story effectively to inspire others to re-imagine public spaces, demonstrate impact, build a strong case for future funding, and document the project for long-term advocacy.
Tips for building an evaluation plan
□ Desired impacts: Set goals for how a public space should influence people’s behavior and experience. ie: Create a strong relationship between children and their caregivers.
□ Key drivers: Identify specific features or interventions that encourage behavior change. ie: Design elements or programming that increase child and caregiver interaction.
□ Desired outcomes: The observable, concrete changes in behavior or the environment that signal the project is successful in achieving the desired impacts. ie: Higher number of interactions compared to the baseline.
□ Metrics: Quantifiable indicators to assess if the desired outcomes are being achieved. These should be specific to the outcomes, and be qualitative and quantitative. ie: ‘Interaction’ would use counts of users interacting, and documentation of interaction type.
A strong Public Life Vision is a great guiding north star for any Public Life project. The vision should be shared between stakeholders and informed by a central research question. This will inspire how you design the project and how the project translates into measurable behavior changes.
Follow a ‘measure, test, refine’ approach to test small pilot projects to inform smarter decision-making. You can collect a baseline of data with the Public Life tools, implement and test a pilot, then evaluate and refine it based on the findings.
This allows you to try ideas, adjust plans, and ensure long-term investments achieve impact.
Now that you’ve implemented an Urban95 Public Life project, do you want to scale it? Scaling can achieve different things, so consider why you want to scale and what the readiness is among local partners – whether to increase usage or awareness, enhance impact long-term, or replicate its success in new locations.
The process of scaling can follow many of the same steps: identifying stakeholders, setting a shared vision, and piloting in new locations.