IGF 2019 WS #182 Data Governance for Smarter City Mobility
Organizer 1: Alina Wernick, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society
Organizer 2: Christopher Olk, Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society
Organizer 3: Max von Grafenstein, Einstein Center Digital Future
Organizer 4: Matthias Peitz, Hertie School of Governance
Speaker 1: Nigel Zhuwaki, Technical Community, African Group
Speaker 2: Aisha Bin Bishr, Government, African Group
Speaker 3: Dörte Schramm, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
How should data in Smart Cities be governed to foster the creation and delivery of effective, innovative and sustainable mobility and transportation services for citizens, while respecting their privacy and other fundamental rights?
Relevance to Theme: The UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 calls for making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Adequate transport infrastructure and affordable transport services are still widely lacking in many developing countries, hampering economic growth and poverty reduction efforts. The UN United Smart Cities initiative advocates for public policy to encourage the use of ICTs to facilitate and ease the transition to smart sustainable cities worldwide and is currently supported by sixteen other UN bodies. The United Nations World Cities Report (2016) demonstrates that current urbanization models are unsustainable and calls for new forms of collaboration and cooperation and governance for smart and sustainable cities.
Two simultaneous global trends stress the importance of appropriate Data Governance in this context:
First, the globally increasing urbanization and consequent challenges for urban mobility, such as the need to control traffic congestion for accessibility of the community to essential services and for the economy of cities to thrive. Reducing car emissions is both a part of climate action and a prerequisite for public health. In 2016, 91 per cent of the urban population worldwide were breathing air that did not meet the World Health Organization air quality guidelines value.
A second global trend is the integration of Internet-of-Things technology into urban infrastructures, which inevitably collect data also on citizens, as well as that of increasingly connected cars, and general digitalization and datafication of the automotive industry and the entire mobility sector.
We hence observe a situation where an increasing number of heterogeneous actors generate data that is of relevance for offering connected mobility services in Smart Cities. We find it crucial to understand
how this data can be (re-)used in a manner that enables the delivery of various public and private smart mobility services, innovation and fair competition in the sector, which features established players such as OEMs and their suppliers, recently expanded platforms such as Uber, and SMEs who offer mobility services.
how the data can be governed adequately from the perspective of citizens and their individual rights, in particular, their rights to privacy, identity, and data protection. For example, it is of importance that the principles of its collection and processing are transparent to citizens and comply with the GDPR, or other local laws protecting rights to data protection and privacy.
How can the data be governed in a manner that is consistent with the Sustainable Development Goals? In particular, relevant goals are the promotion of development and innovation, the reduction of inequality - including those in access to mobility and public spaces - as well as environmental sustainability, via a reduction of emissions and the use of renewable energy. Sustainability in this context may also require the municipality to remain independent from specific private infrastructure providers, or to promote public transport, even if such policies may be at odds with the interests of particular private actors.
In the best case-scenario, data-driven public and private mobility services would harness the novel technologies in a sustainable manner. The fulfillment of this objective is conditional on the employment of appropriate Data Governance models. We understand governance as reflexive coordination, and we define Data Governance as the legal and social norms and design decisions about the technical and organisational layers that determine the conditions for the interorganizational sharing of data. Data governance models represent specific legal, political-economic and technical solutions for governing data. A background paper that describes our conceptual work in more detail is attached to this application.
Data governance models for connected mobility in Smart Cities should foster the effective and innovation inducing reuse of data, while respecting the human rights of data subjects and citizens. Ideally, the Data Governance models should be transferable and modifiable across different cities.
Relevance to Internet Governance: Cities willing to engage in or foster the provision of smarter connected mobility services are likely to face typical challenges regarding Data Governance. In our view, Data Governance consists of two dimensions: Public and private rulemaking on the interorganizational transfer of data as well as a qualification of the technical layers that enable the sharing of data.
The workshop is organized in collaboration among research groups at the Humboldt Institute of Internet and Society and the Einstein Center Digital Futures. Throughout 2019, our interdisciplinary research group will investigate what would be the appropriate Data Governance models that support mobility in Smart Cities and who should set them. In our workshop at the IGF in November, we will to introduce our findings on Data Governance in Smart Cities and refine them further with the participants. Our objectives are:
Mapping the existing approaches to Data Governance for connected mobility in Smart Cities
Identifying a set of general Data Governance models for connected mobility in Smart Cities, which helps municipalities to plan their smart city strategy, as well as other actors involved in internet governance to choose adequate policies on all levels.
Organize an IGF workshop, to reflect in a dialogue with diverse stakeholders, what kind of Data Governance models for urban connected mobility could be applicable across global cities, both in the developed and developing countries, and what kind of actors should take responsibility in adapting them?
We are also happy to collaborate with other workshop organizers in the same field to ensure that our session is complementary.
Break-out Group Discussions - Round Tables - 90 Min
Description: The workshop will begin with a brief introduction of our working group and the Data Governance models for connected mobility in Smart Cities that we have identified in our research. It will be followed by three to four impulse presentations on the core challenges of Data Governance in Smart Cities from the perspective of municipal policy makers both from the EU and the Middle East, of a large player in the mobility industry, of the developers of an urban mobility application in South Africa, of a citizen initiative related to Data Governance in Smart Cities. (The exact configuration of the impulse presentations will be determined once all invited speakers have confirmed their participation conclusively.)
In the next phase, there will be 5 simultaneous round table break-out discussions which refine the identified models from the following perspectives:
1. Accountability - who should take initiative?
Who should set up the rules on Data Governance and monitor them?
Which actors should collaborate?
Can we recommend different type of Data Governance models for different types of cities or societies?
2. Data protection and privacy:
How can citizens benefit from the provision of connected mobility services in a smart city, while maintaining trust that their fundamental rights are respected both by the private and state actors?
What kind of measures are necessary for protecting the data and privacy of citizens?
Are there more vulnerable groups of people whose interests require special attention?
Can the relevant solutions be applied in a smart city beyond connected mobility?
3. Data governance supporting human rights and other policy goals:
How can normative goals such as environmental protection or equality be reinforced by the Data Governance models?
How can the Data Governance models support the fulfillment of local policy goals, for example with respect to the use of specific modes of transportation?
How can the Data Governance models serve particularly vulnerable communities and persons with disabilities?
What is the interrelationship of Data Governance and general city planning?
4. Innovation, competition and incentives:
How can the Data Governance models foster innovation?
How can the Data Governance models enable the provision of diverse mobility services and modes of transport?
How can the procurement of Data Governance related services preclude lock-ins to specific providers?
5. Technical infrastructure and interoperability:
What kind of technical infrastructure is a prerequisite for each Data Governance model?
What kind of models could fit in low-resource settings?
In which areas interoperability is critical and how can it be governed - and by whom?
How can interoperability be taken into account in public procurement?
The round table discussions will follow the Purpose to Practice - workshop format, where the stakeholders initially shape together all the elements that will determine the success of of their initiative and hence a shared purpose. All additional elements—principles, participants, structure, and practices—are designed to help achieve the purpose.
Finally, each of the round table groups presents the refinements to the Data Governance models and the principles and best practices of Data Governance identified by the working group.
Expected Outcomes: 1. An identification of relevant principles for Data Governance, based on the organizers’ research on Data Governance, as well as the evidence from practice and the experiences and interests of the diverse stakeholders identified in the workshop itself.
2. The development of concrete recommendations and best practices for urban planners, municipal administrations, civic initiatives, technology providers and other relevant actors.
3. A look at policy implications for broader Internet Governance and related areas of law and policymaking that may turn out to be relevant.
The overarching objective is the presentation of a human rights sensitive model of Data Governance for connected mobility in Smart Cities: “The Berlin Best Practices of Data Governance”
Alina Wernick, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Matthias Peitz, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Christopher Olk, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
For each of the five groups, moderators with experience in discussion facilitation will be identified in advance by the organizers. The participants are invited to assemble freely around the moderators and the sub-topics they represent. Should highly unequal group sizes emerge, some participants may be asked to voluntarily switch to another group. The primary responsibility of the moderators is to ensure a productive and fair discussion, with a focus on ensuring freedom from barriers, and promoting equal participation of all discussants. In addition, the groups should each elect one rapporteur is responsible for the presentation the results of the group discussion in conclusion of the session. The groups may also choose to have more than one rapporteur or moderator.
In order to make the onsite discussions available to participants who are unable to physically attend, we are planning to use the video conferencing tool provided by IGF to broadcast the impulse presentation as well as enable participation in the breakout discussions. . Our online moderator will be responsible to coordinate the online and onsite interactions, and facilitate online participation in the discussions.
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities