By Sofia Rinvil
In many facets of society during the past few decades, there has been an increasing interest in digital solutions. The necessity for distance between individuals due to the pandemic, coupled with climate change, has greatly increased interest in finding new ways to connect users of the digital space. The digitalization of processes is already underway in many fields and is bringing about unheard of changes in society, business, and organizations. This process is being driven by advancements in digital technologies like artificial intelligence, big data analytics, cloud computing and the Internet. Sustainability may be impacted or altered by the growing effect of digitalization. Sustainability will be able to adjust to the new opportunities and risks of the digital era because of its transformative nature.
Given that dealing with these two megatrends requires taking practical action close to where people live, public administration is of utmost importance in the context of addressing the issues of advancing digitization and climate change. Initiatives to create smart cities depend on data. Important considerations include where the data originates from, who owns it, and how it is used. Thus, data governance is crucial and has an impact on the city’s overall government. Policymakers must consider how to plan urban data in order to ensure citizen participation in the co-production of solutions in public service design and delivery.
The majority of current local government efforts to handle urban data take the shape of smart city programs. Any combination of digital resources, procedures, and agents that support the movement of data inside an urban region is referred to as urban data infrastructure. Urban data infrastructure has achieved a new turning point because of digital technologies like cloud computing, general-purpose algorithms, Wi-Fi, cellphones, and embedded sensors. As a result, formal city organizations have much better access to data for the creation of policy and administration, albeit other stakeholders are also becoming more important.
The Edgelands Institute is a multidisciplinary organization that uses academic study, data and art to examine how the urban social contract—the usually unnoticed regulations that govern our cities—is changing as a result of the digitalization of urban security. Edgelands creates temporary gathering places for individuals, decision-makers, academics and other interested parties to discuss how local governments are using digital tools and how this is transforming urban social structures. The Edgelands Institute is an international movement. This movement establishes temporary residences in cities around the world that have made innovative use of digital technologies, particularly in their application to security. The Edgelands Institute is currently being incubated at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, and its research focuses on how the digital transformation is transforming cities’ social contracts.
Edgelands is thrilled to welcome a cohort of international scholars, practitioners and artists who will investigate the intersection of digitization, urban security and its impact on the social fabric of a city. As a 2022-2023 research fellow for Edgelands, I will conduct research on the intersection of digitization and urban governance. As someone who views the city as a reflection of its data infrastructure for citizens’ smartphones to become their mobile driver’s license and ID card with digital credentials, which speeds and simplifies access to the city and local government services.
About the Author
Sofia Rinvil is a philanthropist, leader, advocate, entrepreneur, and mentor who has helped and improved the lives of marginalized people. Sofia’s dedication to justice and human rights stems from childhood experiences that piqued her interest in business, law, and policy. She wants to spend her career assisting those in need in developing a broad strategy to protect their legal rights or effect social change. She enjoys examining and discovering facts, researching the law, and supporting the desired position or outcome. She enjoys advocacy, which is why she has devoted her work and intellectual pursuits to causes that promote business, civil, and human rights. It’s incredibly satisfying to be able to make a tangible difference in someone’s life.