I am attending a summit in Vancouver in the future of cities (The Cities Summit). "Data is only useful when it is used to improve decision making." This from the Mayor of Calgary, Naheed Nenshi. He is talking about the way cities budget and how they move from crisis to crisis using false methods of public consultation to actually prevent the policy process from changing. He is responding to the following three questions: Why do open city technologies make sense for tomorrow's cities? How do open city technologies improve the quality of life for citizens, yet retain their essential right to privacy? What are the leading international examples of big data deployment in cities?

These are crucial questions that are at the heart of new forms of information exchange not only in cities but in all organizations. The costs of doing this are high, the benefits are extraordinary. Information transparency enable and empowers.