Philosophy of the City update

One of the typical pitfalls of blogging is that one starts to fall behind and never comes back to writing, because there is so much catching up, which needs to be done. At least, this is what happens to me. And I want to break the curse today. So, here's a brief update on current publications and a bit about the Philosophy of the City Research Group.

Let's start with the Philosophy of the City Research Group: As you may already have notice our website is down. As things currently stand, we will not be able to reclaim our domain before Spring 2022. Hence, we have a new domain: www.philosophy-of-the-city.org

For now, the URL will take you to the "About us" section of our last conference website. Expect a new website to pop up soon-ish, which is likely to include information about our first "back to meatspace" conference in fall 2022, which will take place in Europe.

There are also some publications from our ongoing research projects, which I would like to mention: Sage Cammers-Goodwin and Naomi van Stralen published Making Data Visible in Public Space, which contributes to the BRIDE project. And from FRAME-PRO, we have to report a joint publication on Earth observations and statistics: Unlocking sociodemographic knowledge through the power of satellite images for which Isaac Oluoch contributed a wonderful ethics section.

With BRIDE we are also preparing a panel for the next edition of the Computer, Privacy, and Data Protection-Conference (CPDP) in Brussels (Jan 27, 2022), where we will discuss who can and should take responsibility for IoT in public spaces. You can find out more about the panel on the CPDP website.

We also received an additional grant from DesignLab to work on a legacy project for BRIDE. Expect a hands-on hackathon on smart urban infrastructure to happen in Spring 2022.

Finally, and a bit off topic, we are hiring a postdoc for the Disastrous Information-project. In the project, we are exploring how the use of AI and Maschine Learning shapes humanitarian aid practices. The postdoc position will help us to get a better grip on the existing and desirable legal and institutional design for making responsible use of geo-AI in Malawi and its neighboring countries. If you are interested or you know someone who might be interested: Here's the job ad.

Two new projects granted

I am happy to share the good news that two projects have been granted recently.

The first project has been selected as a so-called BMS signature PhD project - a project funded by my faculty to showcase the work being done at BMS. The project will allow Isaac Oulouch to continue and extend his great work on slum mapping in his master thesis. The project will be co-supervised by Monika Kuffer and myself with additional support by Karin Pfeffer and Yola Georgiadou. Peter-Paul Verbeek will be the promotor.

Here's a brief summary of the project, which will go by the name of FRAME-PRO (Framework for responsible and accountable deprivation area mapping in support of pro-poor policies):

Locational data (“geo-data”) has become increasingly available due to technological innovation. This innovation has improved the capability of capturing, storing and processing vast amounts of geo-data, producing results which have commercial and administrative value. For example, such data are essential in the SDG agenda.
While there is a growing awareness of the ethical challenges of geo-data (such as privacy, access to data and surveillance), we require a better understanding of the societal role emerging technologies can play in acquiring geo-data. Building on insights from Philosophy of Technology, we begin with the premise that technologies are not neutral tools but shape the ways in which we perceive and act in the world. In our project, we will answer the question: To what extent do geo-data technologies affect the responsibilities of various stakeholders to improve the lives of the urban poor? The project links to global policy goals of promoting public health (SDG-3), access to water (SDG-6), and building inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities (SDG-11).

The PhD project will build a framework to evaluate geo-data technologies (such as geo-information systems, mapping and sensor technologies) through two case studies. Such a framework helps to identify the relevant stakeholders in the geo-data acquisition, to address the distribution of accountability and responsibility in the global use of these technologies. The first case looks into the automated detection of “slums” through satellite and drone images, focusing on the long-term planning and development of mapping practices. The second case concerns the design of GIS for disaster response, to understand how geo-data technologies can help in improving resilience to human-made and climate-related risks in developing countries. These cases will be supplemented by embedded research in various institutions.

The second project will be funded by NWO within the MWI line on Responsible Innovation. Designing for public values in a digital world. It is called "Disastrous Information: Embedding ‘Do No Harm’ principles into innovative geo-intelligence workflows for effective humanitarian action."

I will collaborate with Jaap Zevenbergen, Caroline Gevaert, and Yola Georgiadou. Here's a brief summary:

Most humanitarian scholars ask what geospatial intelligence, from satellite and drone imagery combined with artificial intelligence, can do for humanitarian action. We ask what these technologies do to the core principles—humanity, impartiality, and independence—of the “Do No Harm” humanitarian imperative (Sandvik et al 2017). Upholding humanity and impartiality suggests that not only affected humans and groups/demographics must be protected, but also the privacy and dignity of their “data doubles.” Upholding independence suggests that humanitarian organizations need the capacity to audit donors’, industry’s and digital humanitarians’ geospatial data, tools and algorithms for privacy violations. Empirically, we focus on Malawi. There UNICEF Malawi has an infrastructure comprising rich geospatial data sets, the first dedicated humanitarian drone corridor worldwide, a strong network with Malawi government, donors, and drone industry, as well as a plan to install and replicate in other African countries the first African Data & Drone Academy (ADDA) for Masters students from Malawi and neighboring countries. Conceptually, we draw upon scholarship on Fair, Accountable and Transparent (FAT) socio-technical systems, cultural and organizational theory and privacy by design. We use a mix of experimental (hackathons, mapathons, choice experiments) and qualitative methods (in-depth interviews and focus groups) as well as Q-methodology. We will determine the optimal distribution of technological and regulatory designs for Malawi and an appropriate design for co-creating audit capacity within ADDA’s Master program. The research team combines legal, geo-intelligence, policy & ethics expertise, and decades of collective experience in institutional development and capacity building in the global South.

The best part is that both grants will offer great opportunities for combining the research efforts and to make a substantial contribution on the meaning of high tech in the lives of the urban poor. I am excited, but also a bit scared about the task ahead of us.

We will start hiring a PhD candidate and a PostDoc for the project shortly. The project aims to start in March 2020.