From data to action: Field Notes from the Advanced Cooperation Mission in Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 1–3 September 2026

What does it take to turn urban data into better—and faster—decisions for a city?

That question guided the Advanced Cooperation Mission in Rio de Janeiro, bringing together representatives from the city, Guadalajara, Famalicão and Piraeus as part of the Community of Practice on Smart City Platforms.

Across three days, the delegation explored how Rio combines data, digital platforms, operational protocols and collaboration across institutions to respond to the everyday—and extraordinary—challenges of managing a complex metropolis. 

At the same time, the participating cities continued advancing their joint work within the Community of Practice, identifying practices that could be adapted to their own contexts and moving forward with their shared pilot action.

Day 1 | From urban data to real-time action

The mission began at Rio de Janeiro’s Operations and Resilience Centre (COR), where the delegation was introduced to the systems, platforms and protocols behind the city’s coordinated approach to urban management.

Operating around the clock, COR brings together municipal departments, service providers and other partners to monitor the city and coordinate responses to situations affecting everyday urban life. Its work spans areas including mobility and weather, combining technology with operational knowledge to anticipate and respond to disruptions.

A visit to the operations room made this approach tangible. The Rio team walked participants through the methodology used to develop protocols for more than 50 different use cases, covering challenges ranging from mobility and extreme weather to heat and public safety. For Famalicão and Piraeus, the discussion provided practical insights into how a city can move beyond simply collecting data and establish procedures that determine how institutions act when specific situations arise.

The conversation then turned to the infrastructure behind those decisions. The Pereira Passos Institute (IPP) presented Rio’s approach to managing and integrating urban information. As the city’s research institute, IPP produces and manages geographical, cartographic, statistical and other urban information to support public policy and strategic planning, while making datasets available through platforms including Data.Rio.

The exchange highlighted another essential component of a smart city platform: collaboration. Reliable urban intelligence depends not only on technology, but on institutions and other stakeholders continuously contributing robust and timely information—and on the ability of the city to communicate what that information means to residents.

Alerta Rio offered a clear example. The city’s alert system monitors risks associated with intense rainfall and landslides and communicates warnings to the population when conditions require them. Together with COR’s broader communication channels, it demonstrated how complex operational information can ultimately become something very simple and consequential for residents: knowing what is happening, what level of risk they face and how they should respond.

The lesson from the first day was therefore broader than technology itself. When data, protocols, institutions and communication work together, urban intelligence becomes a tool not only for managing the city, but for protecting the people who live in it.

Day 2 | Connecting intelligence, innovation and investment

The second day expanded the discussion beyond COR to explore other components of Rio’s urban innovation ecosystem.

Sessions with the Epidemiological Intelligence Center (CIE) and the Center for Intelligence, Surveillance and Technology in Support of Public Security (CIVITAS) showed how intelligence and technology are being applied to two particularly complex areas of city management: public health and security.

The visits reinforced one of the ideas introduced the previous day: urban intelligence becomes more valuable when data can inform concrete decisions across different policy areas.

From there, the delegation moved to Maravalley, Rio’s innovation hub. Located in a regenerated former industrial area, the project offered a different perspective on smart city development—one based on creating the physical and institutional conditions for talent, education, entrepreneurship and business innovation to interact.

The visit provided an example of how urban regeneration can become a catalyst for an innovation ecosystem, bringing together students, companies, public institutions and other actors around the ambition of developing solutions with an impact on the city.

At Invest.Rio, participants explored the connection between this ecosystem and Rio’s wider economic transformation. Presentations introduced the city’s priority areas for investment and initiatives aimed at mobilising private-sector participation in urban innovation.

Among them, Sandbox.Rio sparked particular interest as an example of how collaboration between the public and private sectors can create space to test innovative ideas and solutions with potential urban impact.

Taken together, the day’s visits broadened the concept of a smart city platform beyond a single technological system. Data infrastructure matters—but so do the ecosystems of institutions, businesses, researchers and talent capable of turning that information into new solutions.

Day 3 | Reading the city behind the data

After two intensive days of technical sessions, the final day provided an opportunity to experience some of the urban contexts behind the systems and use cases discussed throughout the mission.

A tour through Little Africa introduced the delegation to a fundamental part of Rio’s history and its connections to slavery and the African diaspora. The visit also offered a different lens through which to consider urban data: understanding a city requires recognising the very different socioeconomic and historical realities that coexist within it, and designing policies capable of responding to them.

At Olympic Boulevard, the conversation shifted towards the legacy of major events. Rio’s experience hosting large-scale events helped connect the places being visited with some of COR’s operational challenges—from managing mobility flows to responding to heat and other risks affecting large concentrations of people. It illustrated why real-time information and predefined protocols become particularly important when the rhythms of the city suddenly intensify.

The mission concluded at Sugarloaf Mountain, where participants reflected on the previous three days and the next stage of their cooperation. The group reviewed the lessons gathered in Rio, advanced discussions around their joint pilot action and reiterated their interest in maintaining collaboration beyond the current programme.

About the IURC LAC Advanced Cooperation Missions

IURC Latin America and the Caribbean, part of the International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) programme, connects cities and regions from Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe to co-create sustainable, inclusive, and innovation-driven solutions. Through peer-to-peer exchange and partnerships, the programme contributes to improving citizens’ quality of life while strengthening global cooperation.

Advanced Cooperation Missions are on-site technical visits that build on the IURC programme’s collaborative and knowledge-sharing approach. They provide cities and regions with the opportunity to further develop the themes explored during the online meetings of the Communities of Practice, refine their cooperation action plans and gain first-hand experience of best practices implemented by the hosting city or region.