Postgraduate Diploma in Leadership of Urban Digital Innovation for Public Value

Overview of PGDip in LeadUP

In the second year of LeadUP (leading to a PGDip), students will gain: a deep understanding of the multi-disciplinary and cross-dimensional competency requirements for successful digitalisation projects; the skills to govern and manage multiple stakeholders involved in digital innovation projects effectively; the ability to develop these skills to incorporate ethical considerations as central planks guiding digitalisation initiatives; and the skills to create public value with advanced knowledge of the economic and commercial implications of digital innovations.  

Module Details

You should have successfully completed all the PGCert modules to enrol on to the PGDip.

The PGDip consists of three modules (4-6), each including a residential session in Cambridge. Teaching and learning during non-residential weeks will be supported by online lectures/seminars, supervisions and online resources.

Students will be awarded the Postgraduate Diploma upon successfully completing all requirements for the three modules.

This module marks the start of the PGDip and will build on Module 3. It will focus on data governance. A comprehensive digital innovation process model will be presented, alongside practical examples of how it can be deployed. This will be complemented with knowledge of data ethics frameworks and regulations, and the concept and value of privacy. Unpacking the application of the digital innovation process model will be followed with insights into how new competencies can be built which cut across the digital and technical, governance and ethics and responsible innovation dimensions of urban-level digitalisation.

Content

Indicative content for this module includes:

Digital innovation process II

  • A dynamic sociotechnical understanding of digital innovation in the urban built environment
  • Deploying a dynamic innovation process model

Competencies for digital innovations in the urban built environment I

  • Building new competencies and defining new roles
  • Governance & Management competencies
  • Digital & Technical competencies
  • Ethics & Responsible Innovation competencies

Data science and analytics in urban systems I

  • Data quality management, Data science lifecycle
  • Metadata, ontologies and data models
  • Spatial and demographic analysis
  • Digital tools and data analytics for outcomes/impact evaluations

Cybersecurity in urban systems

  • Cybersecurity data administration
  • Cybersecurity governance and people management
  • Cybersecurity and resilience of critical urban infrastructure

Anticipating impact and deliberating options

  • Landscape of data ethics frameworks
  • Data protection regulatory frameworks
  • Data and information bias

Governance and management of the urban built environment II

  • Governance network management
  • Citizen privacy (concept, value)
  • Delivering through using digitalisation: Governance of financial ecosystems
Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module participants will have:

  • A demonstrated sociotechnical understanding of digital innovation in the urban built environment and practical understanding of how to apply the digital innovation process model.
  • A comprehensive understanding of socio-technical and multidisciplinary roles and competencies required to evaluate critically the competency gaps in the planning, delivery and evaluation of digital-city projects.
  • The ability to deal with urban problems focusing on data science and analytics in urban contexts, introducing concepts regarding data quality and data life cycle management, data modelling and spatial and demographic analysis.
  • A critical awareness of current cybersecurity problems in urban contexts, particularly focusing on data administration, people management, and resilience.
  • The ability to anticipate impact of, and deliberate options for, urban digital innovations, focusing on data ethics, data protection and data and information bias.
  • The ability to identify and apply digital innovations and data governance through legal instruments such as privacy and data protection law.
Key dates

Start date: September 2025

Residential week: 15-19 September 2025

Leading digitalisation initiatives successfully requires detailed knowledge of the actors involved in digital innovations in a place, and subsequently identifying approaches to best manage their involvement in order to deliver public value. This module will explore this with case study examples. It will deliver insights about key concepts and practical knowledge regarding multilevel governance systems, stakeholders and collaboration, and citizen engagement. Finally, the module will expose students to the roles and competency clusters city managers would need within their teams and supply chains to manage digitalisation in the urban built environment, considering the unique needs of a community.

Content

Indicative content for this module includes:

Governance and management for digitalisation of the urban built environment III

  • Local authority internal resources (human resources)
  • Multilevel governance systems

Stakeholders and collaboration

  • Narratives and storytelling
  • Citizen engagement and participation
  • Engagement methods

Data science and analytics in urban systems II

  • Data quality management
  • Data sharing ecosystems
  • Data value chain (roles and responsibilities)

Cybersecurity in urban systems

  • Cybersecurity governance and people management
  • Cybersecurity incident management and response

Landscape of data and ethics frameworks, bias and digital rights

  • Ethical principles for data
  • Landscape of regulatory frameworks for data ethics (international, regional and national)

Competencies for delivering public value using digital innovation II

  • Competency (sub) clusters
  • New roles for digital innovations in the urban built environment
Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module participants will have: 

  • A comprehensive understanding of multilevel governance systems, together with a practical understanding of how different types of actors interact to deliver digital innovation projects.  
  • Ability to appraise processes followed in delivering digital innovation projects, identify pitfalls and propose steps for improved outcomes in the future.
  • Ability to evaluate applications of digital technologies for creating public value and the critical considerations related to data quality, data sharing ecosystems, regulations landscape and cybersecurity management.
  • Ability to apply relevant ethical frameworks and principles useful for guiding urban digitalisation projects.
  • Ability to develop and recommend effective responsible leadership strategies for delivering digital innovation projects with a multi-disciplinary team.
Key dates

Start date: December 2025

Residential week: March 2026

The economic and commercial implications of digital innovations in a locality will be emphasized in this module. This will involve advanced knowledge about the repertoire of resources city managers need to oversee value creation through digital innovation, potential changes to their operating models (as well as that of their delivery partners), and what is needed to undertake evaluations for benchmarking digital technologies. Assessments to identify potential unintended economic consequences arising from digitalisation initiatives for marginalised sections of a society will be considered, in addition to identifying strategies to mitigate them.

Content

Indicative content for this module includes:

Governance and management of the urban built environment IV

  • Prioritisation in resource allocation for public value creation
  • Identifying best practices in policy mobility

Business models and digital innovations

  • Value creation models, operating models
  • Financing models and implications for creating public value
  • Digital innovation ecosystems in the urban built environment

Stakeholder engagement

  • Stakeholder engagement for successful digitalisation
  • Representativeness; Vulnerabilities & marginalisation; openness and inclusion
  • Accountability: concept and practice

Benchmarking of new digital technologies

  • Benchmarking techniques
  • Analysis of trends and monitoring tools and methods
  • Establishing performance benchmarks

Finance and procurement of new digital technologies

  • Finance models and procurement processes
  • Financial risk analysis
  • Benchmarking and performance tracking

Anticipating impact and deliberating options for digitalisation

  • Forecasting impacts
  • Implicit bias and back-casting
  • Consensus-seeking and conflict management
Learning Outcomes

By the end of the unit participants will have developed: 

  • A comprehensive understanding of how established governance approaches and practices are used to prioritise the allocation of resources in digital innovation projects.
  • Ability to identify future trends and impact on existing business models such as value creation models and operating models and the practical implications for the overall urban systems.
  • Expertise to argue and weigh the major challenges for stakeholder engagement focusing on social implications such as lack of representativeness, vulnerabilities and marginalisation, and openness and inclusion.
  • Ability to evaluate trends and monitoring tools and methods and use benchmarking techniques of new digital technologies.
  • Ability to appraise finance models and procurement processes impacted by digital innovation, considering risk and performance tracking.
  • Ability to forecast the impact of urban digital innovations and deliberate among different options of digitalisation, focusing on consensus-seeking and conflict management.
Key dates

Start date: May 2026

Residential week: July 2026