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The Right to Have Digital Rights in Smart Cities

Author

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  • Igor Calzada

    (Civil Society Centre ESRC, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data (WISERD), 38 Park Place, Cathays Park, Cardiff-Caerdydd CF10 3BB, UK
    Urban Transformations ESRC, COMPAS, University of Oxford, 58 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6QS, UK
    People-Centered Smart Cities Flagship Programme, Digital Transformation in Urban Areas, UN-Habitat, P.O. Box 30030, Nairobi GPO 00100, Kenya)

Abstract

New data-driven technologies in global cities have yielded potential but also have intensified techno-political concerns. Consequently, in recent years, several declarations/manifestos have emerged across the world claiming to protect citizens’ digital rights. In 2018, Barcelona, Amsterdam, and NYC city councils formed the Cities’ Coalition for Digital Rights (CCDR), an international alliance of global People-Centered Smart Cities —currently encompassing 49 cities worldwide—to promote citizens’ digital rights on a global scale. People-centered smart cities programme is the strategic flagship programme by UN-Habitat that explicitly advocates the CCDR as an institutionally innovative and strategic city-network to attain policy experimentation and sustainable urban development. Against this backdrop and being inspired by the popular quote by Hannah Arendt on “the right to have rights”, this article aims to explore what “digital rights” may currently mean within a sample consisting of 13 CCDR global people-centered smart cities: Barcelona, Amsterdam, NYC, Long Beach, Toronto, Porto, London, Vienna, Milan, Los Angeles, Portland, San Antonio, and Glasgow. Particularly, this article examines the (i) understanding and the (ii) prioritisation of digital rights in 13 cities through a semi-structured questionnaire by gathering 13 CCDR city representatives/strategists’ responses. These preliminary findings reveal not only distinct strategies but also common policy patterns.

Suggested Citation

  • Igor Calzada, 2021. "The Right to Have Digital Rights in Smart Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-28, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:20:p:11438-:d:657884
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Igor Calzada, 2018. "(Smart) Citizens from Data Providers to Decision-Makers? The Case Study of Barcelona," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-25, September.
    2. Robert G. Hollands, 2008. "Will the real smart city please stand up?," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 303-320, December.
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    5. Desdemoustier, Jonathan & Crutzen, Nathalie & Giffinger, Rudolf, 2019. "Municipalities' understanding of the Smart City concept: An exploratory analysis in Belgium," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 129-141.
    6. Edwards-Schachter, Mónica & Wallace, Matthew L., 2017. "‘Shaken, but not stirred’: Sixty years of defining social innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 64-79.
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    9. Kummitha, Rama Krishna Reddy & Crutzen, Nathalie, 2019. "Smart cities and the citizen-driven internet of things: A qualitative inquiry into an emerging smart city," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 44-53.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Wernick, Alina & Artyushina, Anna, 2023. "Future-proofing the city: A human rightsbased approach to governing algorithmic, biometric and smart city technologies," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 12(1), pages 1-26.
    3. Harald A. Mieg, 2022. "Social Innovation in Sustainable Urban Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-4, April.
    4. Ilja Nastjuk & Simon Trang & Elpiniki I. Papageorgiou, 2022. "Smart cities and smart governance models for future cities," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(4), pages 1917-1924, December.

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