Datafication is Transforming Citizenship in Cities Around the World

Alison Powell posed a number of interesting questions during her public lecture on March 12 hosted by CMDS. Her talk focused on how datafication influences the transformation of cities, what role brokers play in the making of cities, and on the shift in the meaning of citizenship.

As Powell observed, data is being collected all the time — from our homes, our offices, our computers, etc. She noted that this data is also being computed and that when you compute data, you create meaning.

This data is useful for the people who produce it of course, but it is also valuable for corporations and governments—and for a growing number of data brokers.  Who are these intermediaries and what are they doing with the data that is being collected? Powell noted that some of these intermediaries are reaping enormous financial benefit from the data they are collecting, and that the existence of these data brokers is changing the relationship between governments and citizens in ways that we don’t completely understand. “Will municipal governments come to wish they controlled the data about their cities and citizens?” she asked.

Powell, who is an assistant professor in media and communications at the London School of Economics, said that she was particularly interested in how datafication is changing the relationships between citizens and governments in cities around the world. She said that these relationships are evolving in part due to pressures to save money and restrict government. “We are shifting from being citizens to being consumers,” she said.

Although data has been used most often to build or strengthen top-down smart cities, Powell offered some wonderful examples during her presentation of how data is also assisting efforts to build bottom-up smart cities.  596 Acres, for example, uses openly available government data to identify empty lots in New York that citizens can then put to good use. CycleStreets marshals data and makes it available to people so they can optimize their routes. 

Powell urged her audience members to participate in discussions and decisions about how and when data is calculated, who the brokers are, how they are using the data that is collected, and what the consequences of this process are.