Zooming Into the Ecosystem: Agency and Politics Around Open Data Platforms in Lyon and Berlin

Olga Slobodova,Sören Becker

doi:10.3389/frsc.2020.00020

Abstract

Open data platforms provide free access to datasets in key areas of urban development. Often provided by the local state, open data platforms constitute a part of smart city strategies worldwide, serving different, potentially contradictory aims, i.e. fostering economic development, enhancing transparency of urban governance and reshaping the relation between citizens and the state. While benefits of open data are often highlighted, recent research has pointed out to open data initiatives failing to account for and include the ecosystem of urban actors and their interests. Instead, open data platforms are embedded in complex networks of actors and institutions, and consequently form both an object and an instrument of urban governance. Our interest lies in understanding how open data platforms are coproduced by different actors based on their conception of open data. Thus, we theorise the development of open data initiatives through a dynamic approach to agency focussing on the strategies of different actor groups shaping open data initiatives and platforms, in specific governance contexts that define barriers and windows of opportunity. Empirically, our paper will analyse the development and governance of open data initiatives and platforms in the cities of Lyon and Berlin. Departing from the initial steps for setting open data on the agenda, we will provide a process-based perspective unpacking actor strategies and agency to shape open data policies, concrete initiatives and platform design. The analysis is based on tracing the development processes and on interviews with representatives of the administration, open data initiatives and civil society. Our analysis identified a narrowing down of open data initiatives to objectives of economic development and efficient administration, despite the existence of broader visions on open data among other actors. This can be traced back to the impact of shifts in the urban governance contexts and high salience of personnel, financial and technical resources for defining the dominant conception of open data.

Highlights

As a part of many smart city programmes, data on urban flows and processes are seen as a resource for an effective management of services in the city (Barns, 2018)
This paper focuses on two research questions: Which actors pursue the implementation of open data platforms, and with which objectives? How are open data platforms constructed in relation to specific contexts of urban governance? In pursuit of these questions, we argue that holistic views on open data ecosystems need to be complemented with a more detailed analysis of the agency of single actors
Inspired by the ACID model on urban governance (Moulaert et al, 2016), our analysis seeks to advance the debate on open data ecosystems in two ways: first, by fleshing out in greater detail the strategies of single actors in establishing open data initiatives and their potentially conflicting visions of open data; and second, by putting greater emphasis on urban governance contexts defining barriers and opportunities for actors to contribute to the development of open data initiatives

Summary

Introduction

As a part of many smart city programmes, data on urban flows and processes are seen as a resource for an effective management of services in the city (Barns, 2018) Optimistic accounts in this regard stress potential improvements in transport, energy and financial flows, and underline the possibilities for collaboration and participation in the development of data platforms (Paskaleva et al, 2017). According to the Open Knowledge Foundation, the main defining element of open data is that it should be freely used, re-used, and redistributed by anyone. Within this spectrum, open data initiatives operate under the premise of providing free access to datasets in key areas of urban development, increasing the information base, and potentially empowering citizens (Baack, 2015). Open data initiatives operate under the premise of providing free access to datasets in key areas of urban development, increasing the information base, and potentially empowering citizens (Baack, 2015). Sieber and Johnson (2015) discuss different pathways of how open data can mediate between the state and civil society, from opening up government data to a participatory design, in which governments and citizens co-produce data together

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