Adapting to changing values: a framework for responsible decision-making in smart city development

ABSTRACT

Smart cities are proposed as a solution for problems of urbanization. Technologies associated with smart cities involve the monitoring of human activities and resulting data streams. These technologies affect certain public values, which may be subject to change depending on their sociotechnical development. This paper presents a method that enables decision-makers to anticipate on this pattern of value change. This method uses two axes that allow a technology to be plotted in terms of different value-laden functions: a first axis in which projects are classified that collect either personal information or impersonal information; a second axis that classifies projects as to whether they collect data for the purpose of service or surveillance. For 37 sensor-based projects in the city of Rotterdam, it has been studied how projects may shift from one quadrant to another. These shifts inform decision-makers so they are better capable of anticipating undesirable impacts of technological developments.

KEYWORDS:

• Smart city development
• responsible innovation
• municipal decision-making
• anticipation
• value change

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 https://docplayer.nl/16156824-Smart-city-rotterdam-een-visie-op-een-slimme-toekomst.html, accessed on 11-11-2021.

2 https://benk.nl/ACTUEEL/TabId/139/ArtMID/875/ArticleID/321/De-AVG-in-een-notendop.aspx, accessed on 15-11-2021.

3 http://docplayer.nl/17861705-Pieter-ballon-smart-cities-hoe-technologie-onze-steden-leefbaar-houdt-enslimmer-maakt.html, accessed on 15-11-2021.

4 https://www.talking-traffic.com/nl, accessed on 15-11-2021; https://www.rootsadvies.nl/downloads/content/330/8d93d461e29d960/programma-beter-benutten-boek-2016.pdf, accessed on 17-22-2021.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marjolein Heezen

Marjolein Heezen is Junior Consultant and Researcher at the Unit Strategy and Planning of TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research). Her work focusses on the spatial implications of transitions, innovation capacity and (adaptive) governance – specifically concerning mobility and urban innovation. In 2018, she defended her Master thesis at the TU Delft on the responsible innovation of smart cities.

Udo Pesch

Udo Pesch is associate professor at Delft University of Technology. He is head of the section of the Ethics and Philosophy of Technology of the faculty of Technology, Policy and Management. His disciplinary interests include responsible innovation, environmental politics, public policy and ethics. Recently published work includes articles on energy justice, citizens initiatives in sustainable innovation and the role of emotions in participatory risk assessment. He has published a wide range of articles and book chapters, among others in Social Studies of Science (SSS), Science, Technology & Human Values (STHV), the Journal of Responsible Innovation (JRI), Science and Engineering Ethics (SEE) and Technological Forecasting and Social Change (TFSC).

Aad Correlje

Aad Correlje is Associate Professor of Economics of Infrastructures at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management (TBM), TU Delft. He has been a Member of the Dutch Mining Council since 2013 and of the Editorial Board of the journal Energy Policy since 2002. He is a part-time professor at the Florence School of Regulation of the European University Institute. His research involves an institutional economics approach to public policy and private strategy development in infrastructure bound sectors (particularly energy and water). He is involved in several projects on Socially Responsible Innovation in the energy transition, with a focus on the interaction between public policy and societal acceptance. Correljé is involved on a regular basis in media coverage of energy and sustainability issues.

Liesbet Van Zoonen

Liesbet van Zoonen is professor of Sociology and dean of the Erasmus Graduate School of Social Sciences and the Humanities at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Professor Van Zoonen joined the department as professor in Popular Culture in March 2009. Previously, she worked at the University of Amsterdam, most recently as head of the Department of Communication, and till December 2015 she was professor in Media and Communication at Loughborough University (UK). She also held various positions at other universities in the world, most notably as professor II at Oslo University, and as visiting professor at the University of the West Indies (Jamaica) and the Hochschüle für Film und Fernsehen (Germany). Her research covers a wide range of issues in the social sciences and humanities, but all concern the question whether and how popular culture is a relevant resource for civic understanding and social participation. Her work currently is focused on public and individual taboos and desires around ‘identity management’; research which is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the UK.

Janneke Ten Kate

Janneke ten Kate is project leader space and economy at Platform 31, which is a knowledge and network organization that aims to facilitate the interactions between various decision-makers related to urban and regional issues.