Muki Haklay - Beyond quantification: a role for citizen science - Data and the City Workshop

Mordechai (Muki) Haklay, Professor of Geographic Information Science, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London (UCL), Gower St. London WC1E 6BT, UK, T: +44 20 7679 2745 E: [email protected], www.ucl.ac.uk/excites, Mapping for Change - www.mappingforchange.org.uk Blog: povesham.wordpress.com

When approaching the issue of Smart Cities, there is a need to question the underlying assumptions at the basis of Smart Cities discourse, and especially to challenge the prevailing thought that only efficiency, costs and productivity are the most important values. We need to ensure that human and environmental values are taken into account in the design and implementation of systems that will influence the way cities operate and governed. While we can accept science as the least worst method to accumulate human knowledge about the natural world, and appreciate its power to explain and act in the world, we need to consider how it is applied within the city in a way that does leave space for cultural, environmental and religious values. The paper will argue that a specific form of collaborative science – citizen science and community science – are especially suitable for making smart cities meaningful and democratic.