Yeme Tech’s Community Data Platform Aims to Transform Urban Planning

A technology startup based in the United Kingdom is redefining how towns and cities approach regeneration. Yeme Tech has developed an advanced Community Data Platform (CDP) designed to help urban planners and property developers better understand what local communities actually need—from facilities and green spaces to events and grassroots activity.

Drawing inspiration from the long-standing community-led work of Lord Andrew Mawson at the Bromley by Bow Centre, the company has translated social innovation principles into a data-driven framework. The goal is straightforward but ambitious: enable neighbourhoods to grow in ways that are healthier, more inclusive, and more closely aligned with the lived experience of residents.

From Community Practice to Digital Insight

The Community Data Platform is the product of several years of development by Yeme Tech’s leadership team, including founder and CEO Amir Hussain. Hussain also serves as Deputy Chair of Housing Regeneration and Place at the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, bringing both public policy and development experience to the initiative.

Rather than relying on broad, top-down urban planning models, the platform aggregates highly detailed local data layers. It maps existing social infrastructure—such as schools, retail services, green areas, libraries, and cultural venues—while also identifying community organisations, local stakeholders, and neighbourhood events. By integrating these datasets with demographic information, the system highlights gaps in provision and uncovers opportunities for targeted investment.

This approach allows councils and developers to evaluate whether communities are adequately served and where additional amenities or programming could strengthen social cohesion. The result is a more comprehensive assessment of both social and economic wellbeing within a defined area.

Partnership with Esri UK and Global Ambitions

Headquartered in Bradford, Yeme Tech has signaled its international ambitions by entering into a partnership agreement with Esri UK. Esri UK forms part of Esri Inc., the global leader in geographic information system (GIS) software.

Esri UK supports a broad portfolio of clients including HS2, Sustrans, Sport England, the National Trust, the Environment Agency, Ordnance Survey, the Greater London Authority, and more than 200 local authorities across England and Wales. Its parent company, Esri Inc., based in San Bernardino, California, provides GIS technology to over 30,000 cities and municipalities, 12,000 national government bodies, 33,000 businesses, and 12,000 nonprofit organisations worldwide.

Through the Esri Partner Network, Yeme Tech leverages ArcGIS developer tools to present complex community datasets in accessible and interactive formats. The collaboration positions the Community Data Platform for deployment at scale, both across the UK and internationally.

Laura Dean, Esri Partner Network Manager, emphasized that the integration of ArcGIS developer tools enables the visualization of community data in ways that generate actionable insight. The partnership, she noted, will continue to evolve as both organisations refine their collaborative work.

Measuring Social Value and Inclusive Growth

As environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations increasingly influence investment decisions, Yeme Tech’s platform incorporates an ESG Social Reporting Index. This functionality enables developers and investors to track and evidence social impact around properties and development sites.

By quantifying community assets and engagement levels, stakeholders can demonstrate how projects contribute to inclusive growth—particularly for marginalised or hard-to-reach groups. The system supports a shift away from purely economic regeneration metrics toward more holistic measures of place-based wellbeing.

Hussain argues that over the past three decades, rapid social and economic transformation has left many towns struggling to maintain identity and cohesion. The decline of traditional retail centres and high streets, while disruptive, presents an opportunity to reimagine urban spaces around community assets and long-term relationships with local residents.

Regeneration projects often involve complex stakeholder landscapes and extended timelines. The Community Data Platform aims to simplify this process by delivering real-time, hyper-local intelligence that supports collaborative planning. Instead of imposing uniform development templates, planners can align new housing, facilities, and programming with demonstrable community demand.

Lessons from the Bromley by Bow Centre

The Bromley by Bow Centre serves as a foundational model for Yeme Tech’s philosophy. Recognised as Britain’s first integrated health centre, it combines medical services with community support, housing advice, business assistance, cultural programming, and event space.

Doctors associated with the centre go beyond prescribing medication; they recommend participation in arts programmes, community care initiatives, and even allotment gardening. This model of social prescribing has since informed national Innovation Projects delivered by Well North Enterprises.

Lord Andrew Mawson, Director of Andrew Mawson Partnerships and President of the Bromley by Bow Centre, has described Yeme Tech’s work as an extension of these principles into the realm of digital planning. By equipping planners with robust community insight, he suggests, cities can be designed collaboratively and sustainably, rooted in data that reflects genuine local need.

Building the Future of Place-Based Planning

Founded in 1969, Esri has grown into the global market leader in GIS software, employing approximately 4,000 staff across 73 countries. Esri UK alone employs over 450 professionals across offices in Aylesbury, Cambridge, Edinburgh, and Belfast. Its customer base spans public agencies, infrastructure providers, telecommunications firms, and local governments.

Through its partnership with Esri UK, Yeme Tech is positioning its Community Data Platform as a next-generation urban planning tool—one that combines geographic information systems with community intelligence to produce smarter, more responsive cities.

By merging social insight, spatial analytics, and stakeholder engagement, the platform represents a shift in how neighbourhood success is defined and measured. If widely adopted, it could signal a broader transition toward planning cities not merely for efficiency or growth, but for long-term social resilience and collective wellbeing.