(How) is big data re‐defining the“urban?”

Big Data in an Urban ContextISSC, World Social Science Fellows Seminar

Christine RichterUniversity of Amsterdam

Initial thoughts

• What is the “urban context?”

• What is (new about) “big data?”

• How can the two be brought together toderive conceptual entry points for discussion?

1. Setting the scene: historical notes

Cities in the era of Big Data

… “smart city,” “virtual city,” “wired cities,” 

“cybercities,” “information cities,” “digital cities” … 

(Angelidou, 2015, p. 98)

The urban‐technology alliance• Historically, cities grew from economicagglomeration & diversification, and as centers of governance (at a distance)

• Since 19th century the idea of “cities as machines:” technology driven efficiency, equity, and seamlessness

• Especially since 1990s nexus between cities, information technology and knowledge economy

Big Data

“… everything captured or recorded digitally bymodern information and communication

technologies such as networked sensors, ‘smart’ objects and devices, the web and social media.”

(Rabari & Storper, 2014, p. 28)

One of Big Data’s Lineages*

• 1960s Quantitative revolution in geography• 1980s & 90s Geographic Information Science• 1990s to 2000s Integration of (spatial) data (spatial data infrastructure)

• 2000s Open Data & Transparency Intitiatives, Web 2.0 technologies, & “Neo‐geography”

• … ‘big data’ …

*through lens of geography discipline in Anglo‐saxon region

What can we learn from past –present continuities and discontinuties for:

• big data use for/by social science in urbancontext

and• social science about big data (use) in urbancontext

2. Three broad questions based on past and current research

Legibility making – Re‐making urbanspaces

(Sources: Scott, 1998; Richter, 2014)

How may big data re‐define urbanspaces?

Continued issue: data re‐makes what it seeks to depict >> categorizingpeople

But also:

• The influence of information technology on real‐estate and urbandevelopment  

• The changing uses of space and legal regulations of space in response toincreasingly denser network of private and public sensor devices

Integrating new data – Re‐orientingurban policies

Source: Baud, I. S. A., N. Sridharan, et al. (2008). 

How may big data re‐define urbanpolicies?

Continued question:  competing representations as well as challenges to andrisks of socio‐technical integration

But also:• Data flows de‐coupled from existing governance structures & reaching

beyond established administrative scales and boundaries• Opacity of government‐private data integration

New transparencies – re‐scaling urbanpolitics

(Source: Richter & Georgiadou, 2014; heelhollandtransparent.nl)

How may big data re‐define urbanpolitics?

• Citizen awareness & concern, and new forms of citizen participation = empowerment ?

“What to do, even if they ask for permission, you have to say yes, if you want touse the service on or offline.” (KIP Maps4Society focus groups in Amsterdam)

• “Governance at a distance” and new forms of surveillance:

• “Governance of the future:” the balance between living with risk anduncertainty, on one hand, and planning for stability and security, on theother: 

“Le Corbusier and Jane Jacobs” / “Data retention and encrypted smart phones”

References:

Angelidou, M. (2015). “Smart cities: A conjuncture of four forces” Cities 47: 95‐106.

Baud, I. S. A., N. Sridharan, et al. (2008). "Mapping urban poverty for local governance in Indian mega‐city; the case of Dehli." Urban Studies 45(7): 1385‐1412.

“Maps 4society” Kleine Innovatieve Projekt:  “From data subjects to data producers: negotiating the role of the public in urban geo‐information data “ University of Amsterdam, 2015 (project description)

Rabari, C. & M. Storper (2014) “The digital skin of cities: urban theory and research in the age of the sensored and metered city, ubiquitous computing and big data.” Cambridge Journal of regions, economy and Society 8:27‐42. 

Richter, C. (2014) “Digital Transformations in Indian Cities: Between paper list and GIS Map.” PhD dissertation. University of Twente, The Netherlands. Available at: http://www.itc.nl/library/papers_2014/phd/richter.pdf.

Richter, C. & Y. Georgiadou (2014) “Practices of Legibility making in Indian Cities: GIS property mapping and slum listing in government schemes.” Information Technology for Development. DOI:10.1080/02681102.2014.886548

Scott, A.J and M. Storper (2014) “The nature of cities: The Scope and Limits of Urban Theory.” International Journal of Urban andRegional Research. DOI: 10.111/1468‐2427.12134

Scott, J. C. (1998). Seeing like a state – how certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.