Urbidata: Responsible Design for Fair Data Cities

In this course we explore the main principles of data ethics, and the relevance of applied ethics in the domain of the data-driven city.

Eight billion people and their devices produce unimaginable amounts of data, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Data on all aspects of human existence. Data, processed by AI and increasingly powerful computers, that promise mankind the opportunity to influence all aspects of life, especially in the urban setting. The concept of the 'smart city' assumes that big data leads to better (after all smart) solutions for planners, designers, industry and, at the end, citizens. Urbidata, the data-driven city of 2050, will be optimally planned, with smart mobility that allows for efficient and safe use of space and time, and citizens living in smart homes and working in smart offices that cater optimally their needs, based on their personal profiles.

Does this technology driven perspective provide the answer how we want the life in the future city of Urbidata to look like? Should all developments of data-driven solutions (e.g. by architects, urban planners and geo-specialists) and their use be permissible in the light of the consequences? The choices we make today determine our world of tomorrow.

Taking a critical, responsible design perspective it's clear that our data-driven future cannot be just a question of engineering and economic models. How about values as autonomy, privacy, transparency and consent?

At first sight this interpretation of the city of tomorrow appears to be a question of policy. Policy that might lead to a normative (legal) framework setting standards. However in this course we focus on the preceding fundamental discussion. What are the ethical concepts and principles that guide us to determine what solutions are right or wrong? And next: how to apply data ethics in a given situation? This in order to make the future city of Urbidata a fair data city.