Data politics in the built environment

Abstract

Buildings and cities are increasingly being reconfigured and re-imagined by flows of data. Smart homes and cities, digitally networked infrastructure services, shared mobility programmes and autonomous vehicles, surveillance and security systems, and urban control centres are a few of the many examples of how data are emerging as an influential driver of urban development processes. The aim of this special issue is to enhance our collective understanding of the practices, politics and power implications of data-driven buildings and cities. How are data generated, metabolised and gathered in the built environment? Who designs and governs these data flows, and to what end? Who and what are enrolled in the datafication of buildings and cities? What forms and types of data are collected, and what is ignored in data flows at and across different scales? What are the broader implications for social justice and equity? This editorial overviews the main issues of data politics for buildings and cities, summarises the four articles that comprise this special issue, and concludes with recommendations for policy, design and future research. While the contributors identify multiple negative aspects of datafication, they also suggest pathways to inform more progressive and emancipatory futures.