The aim is to initiate a trans disciplinary discussion on the theoretical, methodological and empirical issues related to experimental and data-driven approaches to urban development and living. This conversation is vital in a time when cities are increasingly turning into public-private test beds and living labs, where urban development projects merge with the design of cyber-infrastructures to test new services and new forms of engagement for urban innovation and economic development. These new forms of interaction between algorithms, planning practices and governance processes raise crucial questions for researchers on how everyday life, civic engagement and urban change are shaped in contemporary cities.
Some of the questions that the workshop seeks to address are:
What data are generated by cities in the context of smart cities and their core services? For whom are these data created and on what infrastructure are they dependent?
How are experiments and demonstrations for urban change organised and accounted for? Are they part of a story of continuity or disruption in urban innovation?
How do new forms of engagement take place? How do they reconfigure or subsume the public into private or vice versa?
How are the publics affected and how do they take part in this process? Which forms of citizenship, community or work are performed?
How do data and experiments affect urban management, governance practices and everyday life?
How do the economic arrangements and forms of public-private collaboration transform?
Format:
The workshop consists of three sessions:
In the first session, the organizers will present 6 joint papers delineating the issues above with case studies involving Singapore, Medellín, Bogotá, Dublin, San Francisco and Boston.
After the lunch break, in the second session, there will be a workshop that focuses discussion on the implications of experimental/data-driven urbanism, and the new forms of engagement in smart cities. Participants will be divided into groups and the discussion will be facilitated by the organizers.
Finally, the discussion will be wrapped up by organizers and a final report will be edited and shared among participants afterwards.
After the workshop, we will take the train to Dublin at 4pm for an informal guided trip to visit the actual sites of smart city development.
Who can attend:
The workshop is open to researchers, academics, practitioners and policymakers
How to attend:
Please fill out this google form with some personal details and a few lines about your interest in the workshop. Attendance is free with thanks to our sponsors and limited to 30 participants.
If you have questions please contact claudio.coletta@mu.ie or mussi@mu.ie
Our Sponsors and Supporters:
The Reshaping Cities through Data and Experiments workshop is made possible by generous support from the Irish Reseach Council, the Ambassade de France and Maynooth University Social Science Institute (MUSSI).
WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
9:30: coffee and registration
9.45-10: Introduction – Why smart cities and why data and experiments (Claudio Coletta and David Pontille)
10-11: Reshaping urban engagement and publics through data and experiments 1 (Chair: Reka Peterksak, Business School, Maynooth University)
Economic arrangements and forms of public-private collaboration in Medellin (Félix Talvard)
Reshaping engagement through IoT in Dublin: SBIR and testbedding (Claudio Coletta)
11-12: Reshaping urban engagement and publics through data and experiments 2 (Chair: Aphra Kerr, Department of Sociology, MUSSI, Maynooth University)
Unpacking hacking events and techniques (Sung-Yueh Perng)
Internet is at the corner: Experiencing and making sense of data centers in Paris northern suburb (Clément Marquet)
Break
12.15-13.15: Reshaping research and approaches in data driven and experimental urbanism (Chair: TBA)
Reflexivity in engaged research (Liam Heaphy)
Investigating city experiments (Brice Laurent & David Pontille)
13.15-14: Lunch Break
14-14.45: workshop session
15.00: Wrap-up and closing remarks
