Effect of open data application on municipalities: Case of London and Istanbul metropolitan municipalities

In this study, which deals with open data applications in municipalities, the open data portals of London and Istanbul metropolitan municipalities and the convenience of these portals on citizens and city management were examined. Along with the development of the New Public Administration, private sector practices have started to be integrated into the public administration. Concepts such as transparency, openness, participation and daylight management create new principles of public administration and at the same time cause public participation. Along with these principles, public institutions have opened themselves to the outside and enabled the public to control. In addition to these developments, with the advancement of technologies, internet-based new applications have been formed. One of this new application is open data portals. These portals have been opened for to citizens by both central and local governments. Thus, with these portals, citizens have the chance to participate in management by inspecting public institutions. Citizens can access the data they want, especially through open data portals of municipalities. One of the qualitative research methods, case study was used in the study. In line with this method, the study was limited to the examination of the open data portals of the municipalities and the London and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipalities in the last section. The subject of the study is to examine the factors that direct municipalities to open data application and the effect of open data application on the administrative functions of municipalities. The aim of the study is to examine the open data applications of the municipalities and to compare the practices of London and Istanbul Metropolitan municipalities in this context. In the study, it has been determined that opening the data has many benefits for the public, private sector and researchers. In particular, it has been observed that opening the data of municipalities is more functional for citizens. In addition, it was understood that the data shared in the London and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality open data portals, which were examined in this study, differ depending on many factors and each shared data had an effect on the administrative functions of the municipalities. The opening of data portals has also changed the personnel structure. Thus, the need for expert personnel dealing with data sharing has arisen. The importance of the central data portal was also mentioned in the study. The formation of the central data portal also affects the legal basis for open data sharing. Open data portals of other municipalities should also be opened in order to increase competition and cooperation. Mobile applications should be developed in connection with these open data portals.