#User involvement
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After two successful editions, the WeMakeThe.City festival is heading for 2025 as a biennale: the 750th anniversary of Amsterdam. This year the uncertain future of our city and metropolitan region was discussed in a 12-hour livecast marathon on the 21st of September. The WeMakeThe.City theme ‘Reset’ brings together genius thinking, imagination and creativity to formulate alternative perspectives for action. How are we going to do things differently in the coming years? How do we work together to make our metropolis fairer, more inclusive, more sustainable, more climate-resilient, safer, more successful and happier? After all, together we make the city of, for and by everyone!

During last spring's lockdown, it became even clearer how much we depend on the digital world. We meet, chat and date in front of the screen. A solution to combat the spread of Covid-19 is also being sought in the digital domain. These developments have raised the privacy issue again: how can people's data rights be protected? Such as anonymity, transparency and control over data. Time for a good conversation about values and the importance of digital civil rights.

The session kicks off with Marleen Stikker, director of Waag and Ger Baron, Chief Technology Officer of the City of Amsterdam. Marleen explains what our digital human rights are. ‘These are the same rights just as in the analogue world. Where there is relatively much attention for analogue human rights, our civil rights in the digital domain have run wild, too little attention has been paid to this. Let's reclaim those rights! It is for example about the right to be forgotten, the right to be anonymous, but most important to me is digital sovereignty. Everyone should have the possibility to have insights in their own actions online.’

Ger agrees with Marleen. According to him, governments, and cities as well, collects too many data about residents and the public space without even knowing what they want to do with these data.’ The reason to collect them should be to learn something specific that you can improve or help people. Helping people with the collection of data also brings in new dilemmas. The city used to have a collaboration with energy providers for example. Once someone didn’t pay for the energy service, they sent out a message to the city administration. The City could then prevent someone get evicted from his/her home.

This example is not enough reason for Marleen to collect the data: ‘To me, this sounds as if we didn’t invest in our society. We could have helped these people as well if they had adequate supervision or guidance. In last years, we invested heavily in the digital domain and we made budget cuts on home care, debt counselling and community police officers. Digital solutions are not always the best solutions! Especially not when all kinds of companies have data without people knowing about this.’ Ger: ‘To a certain point I agree with this point. Digital rights also include rights to know about the data that is collected, why this is and what you can do about this. This is currenty not transparant at all, even though the City of Amsterdam is becoming more and more about about his.

Marleen: ‘I see the City of Amsterdam going in the right direction, by starting for example the Coalition for Digital Rights. However, the steps in this direction go really slow, especially in politics. This way, it remains unclear what rules companies dealing with personal data should obey. That’s why Marleen also calls on politicians in The Hague: guarantee digital human rights by imposing conditions on the market.’

Next up is Miram Rasch, researcher and teacher at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and writer of the book ‘Friction. Ethics in times of dataism. Her book opens with a story about escaping the eyes of data collectors and algorithms. She states this is only possible at home. And even there, it becomes harder. ‘We have smart meters, smartphones, smart tvs. It is not clear why these devices need to collect data, with whom they share them. We don’t know now, but especially we don’t know in the future. Everybody has something to hide, because we don’t know yet what we should hide. Of course you have to inform yourself about the conditions you’re accepting. However, this is not easy at all. Try to read the Terms and Conditions of the services you use, the texts are too long and complicated. Unfortunately it can take a long before something changes. The few individuals who are conscious about the digital world, won’t change it. We need rules and regulations! But we know from the past, that maybe something heavy has to happen before people open their eyes.’

Jim Boevink, advisor Taskforce Digital Safety at the City of Amsterdam, starts an intermezzo about the right to be anonymous. Marleen Stikker: ‘People who want to abuse others, are free to hide themselves. This is because platforms are not responsible for the content their users post. They earn money with these users, they are their business models. But they they are not responsible for things happening on their platform. This is the first thing that has to change. The legal system is not in order. Make them responsible for the content on their platforms.’ M****arleen: ‘And good to emphasize: someone who is critical about the digital domain and the internet, is not necessarily against the digital world. We only have to make the internet safe and reliable!’

Want to watch the livecast (in Dutch) yourself? Check <https://dezwijger.nl/programma/reset-digital-rights>.

Howdy - this Friday 25.09 @12h we'll be giving a demo to show you MM3D - a new “white board” for city information modeling that can empower you or any other project stakeholders to plan, collaborate & share projects. In this webinar we’ll show you what all these features and functionalities mean for your own real-world projects. We’ll be using the Marineterrein (former navy base) in the heart of Amsterdam as our user case. Interested? Grab a sandwich and sign up here: bit.ly/MM3D_MT

How can Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) and Blockchain contribute to a more transparent, sustainable and inclusive future?

As we launch the DLT4EU programme, we are having a panel discussion on the potential role and pitfalls of DLT in Europe. In the panel Indy Johar from Dark Matter Labs will join Piret Tõnurist, Innovation Lead at OECD - OCDE, and Ludovic Courcelas, Government Strategy Lead at ConsenSys. Together they will discuss how DLT and blockchain can encourage a more circular and democratic society.

Join us for this public online event on September 17th from 6pm CET.

More info on the DLT4EU programme: https://www.metabolic.nl/projects/dlt4eu/

People around the globe are trying to fightCOVID-19 for months now and progress is made in developing ways to do so. While medicines and vaccines are being developed and testing facilities scaled up, we try to get a grip on the spread of the virus by doing contact-tracing. Up until now, the Netherlands have done so by tracing interactions of people who tested positive and informing them. To help determine the people who should be warned, several contact-tracing apps have been developed and introduced around the world. One more successful than the other.

What can we learn from these first trials of introducing country-wide tracing apps? What are the conditions under which people are willing to install and use them? On the 3rd of September, Amsterdam Smart City and Datalab organised an online edition of ‘Data Dilemmas’ in which an international expert panel shared their learnings while working with contact-tracing apps. One of the core values of Amsterdam Smart City is to put people in the center, a nice topic for the session.

Development and community engagement

A common theme in the success of the adoption and acceptance of the app by the public is community engagement. Both during the development stages and after the launch. This was first stated by Ivo Jansch*,* architect of the ‘Coronamelder’ for the Dutch Ministry of Health, but soon backed up by every member of the panel. Dutch, Irish and Swiss apps were developed publically through Github, where tech-savvy community members could gain insights on or even contribute to the production of the app. Although this approach laid bare all early missteps and shortcomings to the public and the press, our expert panel agreed that this was a key factor in the public acceptance of the app.

The Norwegian app Smittestopp was not successful in public adoption. The reason could be that the development of the app was put in the hands of a single company, mainly behind closed doors. The code was not made public for licensing terms, only for possible commercial interest. This created little trust in both tech experts and the population, Norwegian privacy expert and app evaluator Eivind Arvesen concluded. The app was soon removed from the app stores and cannot be used anymore.

There is, however, a thing as sharing things too early, project manager of the Irish COVID-tracker app Gar MacCríosta argued. When you are at such an early stage that there are still many options, ‘you open a door to chaos’ and the public could lose trust in the government being able to get to a good outcome. But as things moved on and the solution became more certain, the Irish became way more transparent about what they were developing.

Hilleen Smeets from the GGD Amsterdam zoomed in on the challenge of gaining outreach of the app in populations where testing is low, positive testing is high and health apps in general are not used as much. Think of poor people or overweight people. These are people do not go and test when showing symptoms. They are the ones that should be motivated to use the app, since they create the blind spot in the analogue contact tracing. Therefore, the app and the campaign should not only focus on gaining trust and understanding in general, but also pay attention to the motivators and barriers that influence app adoption in these populations specifically.

Provide options in data sharing and participation

Freedom of choice was another factor in public acceptance of the contact-tracing apps. In Norway, users were not given an option to decide how much data they were willing to share. The app gathered data to control virus spreading by contact tracing, it was a way for the government to evaluate interventions and provide insights in epidemiological models and public movement. To do this, the data was stored centrally, which allowed the continuous use of data from all devices, providing both user traceability and identification. People could either agree with the app collecting data for all these purposes or not use the app at all.

Something that does not suit a government, Gar MacCríosta noted. ‘If you are trying to be open and trying to protect privacy, decentralised data storage is your only option. Otherwise you are building up contact information and social graph information, something a government cannot do. People give their datafreely to Facebook and other social networks, but in the context of a government response this is different.’ The Irish app also features a symptom tracker,news and updates about COVID-19, and the possibility for people at risk to put in their phone number for a support team. Eventually over 80% of the app users decided to do this and are therefore contactable, improving the analogue tracing system that was already in place. The digital and analogue systems of contract tracing are fully integrated. The control of users in sharing their data and providing more ‘customer services’ to these users seems to improve the adoption by the population.

Hannes Grasegger, Swiss tech journalist, added that it is important that the choice not to use the app should not have restrictive consequences in everyday life. For instance, restaurants and other public areas where people gather could only allow people when they use the app. To prevent this, a legal process has started in Switzerland. In the same light, the Swiss have decided to determine when to phase out the app, so it does not become an eternal monitor.

Check out the stream of this Data Dilemmas event!

[►

Livestream | How to get people to use contact tracing apps

How to successfully introduce contact tracing apps? *This is the livestream of the Data Dilemmas event of September 3 2020!* In smart city projects, technology is almost never the issue. Success is highly depended on whether people will actually need, use and understand technology. This also goe

amsterdamsmartcity YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dRq4dfxokE)

Unfortunately we see an increase in the litter statistics of gloves and one time used face masks that people dispose off by just dropping it on the street and in nature.

With my business partners we have made some products that are re useable, fully recyclable and all the green parts are already made from recycled plastics (recyclate from obsolete fishing gear and ropes)

We intend to also make the other parts from recycled plastics as soon as possible

Stay healthy and safe

At a time of accelerated growth and ubiquity, connectivity technologies like AI and quantum computing allow us to find ourselves anywhere quickly. The most important question to ask is therefore where exactly do we want to be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eihAOW6CR8
Some platforms know exactly what series you would like to watch today based on your previous preferences and when to display you an advertisement for a baby chair before you even know that you need one. Imagine that a city knows for you and in real-time who is worth meeting so that you can develop as an expert, and which team needs your key competencies so that you can be hired immediately.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNNF4iw44r8
As we are more conscious of ourselves and our goals, the world is responding to our actions with more synchronicity. It is one basic and very old knowledge based on the concept of the subconscious and selective perception. What’s more, psychology elaborates that the main factor of satisfaction with a certain situation is the set of relationships with the environment and people that suit us best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeg18Ej9sro
For one good relation set will be a quiet desk and a world of numbers and tables, for the other it will be an energetic communication with others towards an ambitious aim of changing the world. In separated ontologies, those types can be described and classified differently. We are diverse in so many many ways that there is no perfect system that would describe precisely what makes us unique. Nevertheless, some systems are pretty well adjusted, enough to make them a part of our language or part of smart city competencies’ platform, and even to use them to help navigate citizens through activities and events.

In my dream, cities of the future help us adapt the outside world to our deep needs. The main component of a smart city is not a network of external sensors, but a deep radar of our internal needs which looks deep into our psyche and soul. Doesn’t that fit the slogan of the technocratic city?

In our living lab in Wroclaw, we worked with young people on solutions to help them with the new labor market. We tested there the latest achievements of psychology and a new approach to motivation and interpersonal development of young students.

We used our imagination to create a city-wide game that was about defeating the mythical anti-creator by working together to develop creative skills. During the one year process we tried to answer many questions: How to apply the national qualifications framework in an accessible form? Who will be good programmers? Who will never become one? How to change thinking about the city and its role? How to recognize talents at an early stage? How can we build qualities such as leadership, commitment, and entrepreneurship?

Cities need to take immediate action towards mapping and supporting digital and future-proof competencies and approaches.

On the one hand, we helped students get to know each other better, and on the other, internalized with a multilevel transformation of the external world. We used to work on paintings, create our own icons, debate with experts. We also required communication of our own interpersonal discoveries. We created personal websites, business cards, and team presentations. It helps us (and the platform) to understand each one's unique feature and potential roles.

The final stage was to create a small project as a team for one of the local companies or an NGO. Communication with a peer group was just as important as the flow of information with the career adviser and mentors platform. We set up the framework of internal game paths of development and individual competencies.

In the future, artificial intelligence can also be an important player in the ecosystem, so we need to communicate our needs and intentions understandable for its language so that it can help in suggesting the path to achieving our personal goals. We discover that badges and icons can be a great tool to build a common language between different actors. The results of the project evaluation gave outstanding results. Over 60% of people felt closer to the group, which is a good help in the circumstances of growing alienation in the digital and mobile world. Most participants realized their own needs and dreams and made the first step to fulfill them. At the end we replicated and simulated talks with future employer HR, to give a chance to newly acquired competences Our model has been recommended for implementation across the country. However, I feel that hardly anyone in the technology sector understands the importance of soft technologies in the ecosystem of an intelligent country and city.

Even if it is underlined in the newest digital strategies for the EU there is no solution to support mass talent evaluation and constant mapping process. The core element of the Smart Cities Polska vision and strategy is to build smart cities on social capital and supporting it by delivering digital tools for competencies diagnosis and places for meetings and collaboration.

The next stage of our journey will be to conduct an experiment with our living lab on a larger scale and improve the technologies behind the group management and development processes of joint projects. Our new team members will be experts in artificial intelligence, bots, and e-learning platforms. We also want to start international cooperation, hence the translation of our working method into Russian and English.

What I have learned about myself during the project:

The test confirms that I am a participant characteristically (Factor S’) so I want to participate in culture and values, and a technician personality (Factor V’) so I want to gain the know-how to act efficiently. Temperamentally, I am averse to the group (Factor -O) and matter (Factor M) so I act as an independent analyst.

Does my current work fulfill my personal relationship needs?

The role of the coordinator of teams dealing with the development of systems for cities is in line with my social and technical needs. I work on both theoretical models and on occasionally while networking with people. In a living lab environment, I can work with young people so I can meet and recognize my participation needs.

This is a good predictor of satisfaction and harmonic career. Everyone is different, and we need to know how to team up in new teams in a very fast manner by using one language and methodology linked with AI This self-knowledge is enough to precisely match potential roles in the ecosystem and team behavior.

Using the latest methods, it takes less than 15 minutes to see myself structure with great precision. It is easier than quantitative tests based on questions like popular methodology DISC or MBTI, although the results are correlated.

If you would like to improve your city with talent discovery and competencies mapping tool please ask me how we can cooperate: mateusz.jarosiewicz@smartcitiespolska.org

Previously appeared on: https://scgn.smartdubai.ae/social/2020/09/03/mateusz-c0324d40-a052-4503-a113-dfbb12ce3212

De gemeente Amsterdam werkt aan democratische vernieuwing vanuit de overtuiging dat bewoners zelf het beste weten wat er speelt in de buurt en waar behoefte aan is. Een van de methoden waarmee geëxperimenteerd wordt, is de inzet van buurtbudgetten. In het leerprogramma ‘Amsterdammers, Maak je stad!’ deden Kennisland, Pakhuis de Zwijger en Waag onderzoek naar deze buurtbudgetpilots en recent deelden we de resultaten in een livecast. Wat leert de eerste editie buurtbudgetpilots ons voor de volgende stap naar meer eigenaarschap, zeggenschap en cocreatie in de stad?

In het coalitieakkoord 2018-2022 ‘Een nieuwe lente en een nieuw geluid’ geeft het College van B&W van Amsterdam aan democratisering als een van de speerpunten te zien in de huidige bestuursperiode. De doelstellingen van democratisering zijn het vergroten van het eigenaarschap en de zeggenschap van bewoners en het vergroten van het vertrouwen van bewoners in de gemeente. In dat kader is de gemeente gestart met buurtbudgetten.

De pilots met buurtbudgetten zijn in 2019 in de stadsdelen Noord, Nieuw-West en Zuidoost van start gegaan. De stadsdelen hebben, aangevoerd door hun eigen teams Democratisering, zelf ingevuld op welke manier de budgetten verdeeld worden, waarbij rekening is gehouden met de lokale context van de buurt. In deze drie stadsdelen is met verschillende modellen geëxperimenteerd, van online stemmen tot deliberatieve werksessies.

Reflecteren op alle niveaus
Het huidige stadsbestuur heeft met haar democratiseringsagenda een stevige ambitie neergelegd en is voortvarend aan de slag gegaan met de pilots met als doel om straks in heel de stad met buurtbudgetten te werken. Vanwege deze ambitie is het belangrijk om de participatie van bewoners niet alleen op de korte termijn vorm te geven in experimenten, maar deze nieuwe vormen van participatie en een daarbij passende werkwijze – ook daadwerkelijk in het beleid te verankeren. Dat betekent dat er tijdens de pilots geleerd en gereflecteerd moet worden op alle niveaus: in de praktijk, maar óók ambtelijk en bestuurlijk.

In oktober 2019 zijn Waag, Kennisland en Pakhuis de Zwijger, in samenwerking met en in opdracht van de gemeente Amsterdam daarom van start gegaan met het leerprogramma ‘Amsterdammers, Maak je stad!’. Afgelopen 9 juni presenteerden wij de onderzoeksresultaten van dit leerprogramma in een online bijeenkomst vanuit Pakhuis de Zwijger. We gingen met verschillende betrokken bewoners, ambtenaren en de betrokken wethouder Democratisering Rutger Groot Wassink in gesprek rond de centrale vraag: ‘Wat leert de eerste editie buurtbudgetpilots ons voor de volgende stap naar meer eigenaarschap, zeggenschap en cocreatie in de stad?

Behoefte aan heldere kaders en duurzame samenwerking
In het eerste deel van de bijeenkomst deelde het Maak je Stad!-team de resultaten van het onderzoek naar de eerste ronde buurtbudgetten in Nieuw-West, Zuidoost en Noord. Hieruit blijkt dat zowel bewoners als ambtenaren met heel veel enthousiasme aan de pilots zijn begonnen, maar dat het proces ook veel frustratie heeft opgeleverd. Zo ontbraken belangrijke kaders rondom doelstellingen, rolverdeling, samenwerking, financiering en communicatie bijvoorbeeld. Aan de hand van verhalen van actieve bewoners, lokale democratiseringsprojectleiders en stadsdeelbestuurders werden deze thema’s geïllustreerd en besproken. Zo deelde een van de actieve bewoners in Nieuw-West, initiatiefnemer van Schoon Plein ‘40-’45 haar ervaringen met het buurtbudget:

> “Het enthousiasme van de buurt is groot. Iedereen wil graag een schoon plein. Maar we kijken ook naar de gemeente. De schoonmaak is nog altijd een primaire gemeentelijke taak, maar de samenwerking met de gemeente blijkt complex. De uitdaging is om elkaar te helpen om een schoon plein te realiseren. […] Ondanks het enthousiasme van bewoners en de mogelijkheden die het buurtbudget ons geeft, is het opmerkelijk dat de kosten die we maken tot nu toe door de initiatiefnemers is voorgeschoten. Hier heeft de gemeente helaas nog geen procedure voor opgezet.”

Het Maak je Stad!-team deed een oproep voor het gezamenlijk creëren van heldere doelstellingen en kaders, een duurzame samenwerking tussen bewoners en ambtenaren en het niet te snel afrekenen op resultaten:

> “We hebben gezien dat het van belang is om samen met bewoners belangrijke kaders en afspraken te maken rondom de doelstellingen, rolverdeling, samenwerking, financiering en communicatie van en rondom buurtbudgetten. Maar ook in zo’n stadsbreed kader moet ruimte blijven bestaan voor lokaal maatwerk in de verschillende stadsdelen, omdat de behoeften van bewoners in elke buurt verschillen.”

Op naar een duurzaam lerend netwerk
In het tweede deel van de bijeenkomst keken we samen met Rutger Groot Wassink, wethouder Democratisering en Jacqueline van Loon, directeur van !Woon, vooruit. Hoe kunnen we geleerde lessen meenemen in het vervolg van de buurtbudgetten? Hoe zorgen we voor een duurzaam lerend netwerk in de stad dat samenwerkt aan democratische vernieuwing?

Zowel Van Loon als Groot Wassink pleitten tijdens de bijeenkomst voor meer eigenaarschap en zeggenschap bij verschillende groepen bewoners over het proces van het buurtbudget. Willen we het buurtbudget verdelen door middel van een challenge, door online stemmingen, door het organiseren we overlegtafels of geven we het buurtbudget aan een bewonersplatform? Betrek bewoners dus vanaf het begin en laat hen meebeslissen over hoe het buurtbudget georganiseerd moet worden. En niet pas op het moment dat de wijze waarop bewoners mee kunnen doen al is bedacht. Dit is ook een van de aanbevelingen vanuit het leerprogramma Amsterdammers, Maak je stad!

Groot Wassink gaf aan dat het stadsbestuur de pilots juist gestart heeft om ervan te leren, en bewust veel ruimte heeft gegeven aan allerlei verschillende vormen in de verschillende stadsdelen, zonder al te veel kaders. “Ik heb mensen uiteraard niet bewust willen frustreren, maar het is wel fijn dat we nu zien waar we tegenaan lopen als gemeentelijke organisatie.” De schuring die dit de afgelopen periode heeft opgeleverd en de inzichten uit het onderzoek en het leerprogramma Amsterdammers, Maak je stad! vormen belangrijke input voor een stedelijk kader met richtlijnen voor het buurtbudget dat de gemeente eind 2020 gaat opstellen.
Het volledige onderzoeksrapport met alle resultaten van het leerprogramma wordt binnenkort gepubliceerd. Neem voor meer informatie contact op met Dave van Loon (dl@kl.nl) of kijk op: https://www.kl.nl/nieuws/buurtbudgetten-enthousiasme-maar-ook-frustratie/

'The early focus on contact tracing apps for covid-19 was understandable: a vaccine is still many months away, assuming we can even find one that will work. Apps stepped into the breach as a potential panacea—even though many insiders have consistently argued that they are only one of a number of tools we have to fight the virus.'

And are they working? Will people use it? The article shows that France and Australia have some struggles in making the technology work while also trying to get people adopt the app. Eventually, technology will work. Success is however dependent on the willingness of usage by the people.

Join the discussion!
Are you interested in the Dutch plans for a covid-19 contact tracing app? What kind of ideas do they have to enthuse people to use the CoronaMelder? Or would you like to know how other cities and countries convinced people to use such technology? Join us on the 3rd of September 2020 in an online session! More info: https://amsterdamsmartcity.com/events/how-to-get-people-to-actually-use-contact-tracing

One very exciting smart city initiative we’re working on is called ModelMe3D - a brand new city information modeling platform for future city makers. As a virtual white board, MM3D empowers designers and stakeholders to plan, collaborate & share. Since its entirely web based you can create your first project in seconds, and each scene comes with data rich 3D context of real city locations. Interested? Grab a sandwich and join us Friday 04 September @12:00 for a live demo here: https://bit.ly/MM3D_Webinar

De provincie Noord-Holland wil de aandacht voor de noodzaak en kansen van een circulaire economie bij de inwoners van Noord-Holland stimuleren. Daarvoor stelt zij in 2020 €25.000,- beschikbaar (max. €5.000,- per project) voor stichtingen en verenigingen die via kleinschalige activiteiten dit onderwerp bij bewoners voor het voetlicht brengen.

Voor meer informatie over deze (en andere) subsidieregeling(en) kan je terecht bij het subsidieloket van de provincie Noord-Holland. Deze is te vinden in de bijgevoegde link. Subsidieaanvragen kunnen tot en met 30 oktober 2020 worden ingediend.

Demand for knowledge and collaboration is greater than ever as cities look for innovative solutions and best practices to respond to the Covid-19 crisis. This is why Amsterdam Smart City is adapting to the corona crisis and the "new normal" by bringing its Knowledge Exchange programs online.

Any interested party, irrespective of their location, can now book one of three standard Knowledge Exchange programs hosted online, via the Zoom platform:

• Smart City Consultation Session (45 min): This interactive session gives participants the opportunity to ask all of your questions about the Amsterdam Smart City program and projects.
• Introduction to Amsterdam Smart City (1.5hr): This session shares the development and evolution of Amsterdam Smart City with a focus on governance, key projects and lessons learned since its inception in 2009.
• Smart City Deep Dive (2.5hr): Dive deeper into one of four societal transitions central to the Amsterdam Smart City program: mobility, energy, circularity economy, or digital city. This session includes presentations and discussions with two experts and focuses on best practices and more than a decade of lessons learned from Amsterdam’s innovation ecosystem.

Launching New Program: Smart City Exchange

In response to demand for exchanging best practices, we are also launching a new “Smart City Exchange” to support cities and organizations with their urban innovation ambitions. During these sessions Amsterdam Smart City shares best practices and lessons learned from Amsterdam’s innovation ecosystem on a specific topic, for example mobility, energy of community-driven initiatives. In exchange we would like to hear from your city or organization’s experience and best practices on the same topic. In this way we create mutually beneficial Smart City Exchange!

To enquire about the Smart City Exchange or any of the other of our Knowledge Exchange programs, email cornelia@amsterdamsmartcity.com with a brief summary of the key challenges you are working and what you hope to get out of a collaboration with Amsterdam Smart City.

Share Your Online / Virtual Program

Are you offering online or virtual lectures, master-classes, trainings, tours or demos? Share your program on the Amsterdam Smart City Visits page! Or, do you have a solution that can enable our community members to do their bring their wokshops or tours online? We would like to hear from you! Share your solution or idea below or email cornelia@amsterdamsmartcity.com

About Amsterdam Smart City Knowledge Exchange Programs

Since 2016, Amsterdam Smart City has hosted more than 250 delegations from 70 countries. Over half of those visiting delegations were governmental groups interested in learning from the Amsterdam Smart City approach to collaborative innovation. Among the most popular topics for international groups are public-private partnerships, smart mobility solutions, citizen-led or “bottom-up” innovations, and living labs.

In our daily lives, we became dependent on just a few tech companies, usually located in the USA or in China. Should we become independent and develop our own tech sector? Last Friday, the 19th of June 2020, the fifth edition of the Tech for Society series was launched in Pakhuis de Zwijger: a livestream series about the role of technology in a society that is currently under pressure of the Covid-19 crisis. The central theme of this edition: ‘the European Tech Sector’.

Why is it so important to have a tech sector ‘of our own’? Sander van der Waal, Future Internet Lab Lead of Waag explains the role of technology. He uses the metaphor of an iceberg. At the top, there is the technology people see in their daily lives. Phones, wifi, internet, they are there and work fine. Beneath this citizen perspective are a lot of layers we can’t see. There is a technology stack, in which you’ll find the infrastructure, the internet cables, GPS, datacenters, operating systems and more. Below the stack you find the development process, the choices companies made. After that is the foundation. This is the part with assumptions, values and peoples’ rights. The figure shows that technology is a lot more than we think. It has a lot of layers and what to put in the layers, makes sense.

Zooming in on the stack, you can define three variations. 1: a private stack, dominated by tech companies driving by profit and the people as consumers. 2. A state stack, closed tech, dominated by states and surveillance of citizens. 3. A public stack, putting European values into practice, make technology open, with a participating role for citizens. Sander doesn’t think it is necessary to develop a European tech sector. There would be risk we would develop a European private sector and one can doubt if that is really a step ahead. Maybe a little one because we won’t be dependent on US companies, but in this case people still don’t play an active role.

Source: Waag

The big five

The biggest companies we are depending on, are called the big five. Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft dominate the tech industry. Most of them collect our data and make them into a business model. According to Jochem de Groot, director Corporate Affairs, Microsoft does search for the societal debate about technology. They are talking about the public value of their technology. For example in AI, Microsoft calls for more rules and regulations. This way they also hope that it is easier for citizens to hold sovereignty. Microsoft also launched an open data campaign.

Sander: ‘Open data can be a step in the right direction. However, be careful with it. Data are often relatable to people. There is more open data available, but we have to be careful if we can find out to whom te data belong. Once leaked, data never go back. When it comes to tech, Europe is mostly known for the GDPR, the General Data Protection Regulation. This is a standard and also important in the USA. More current technological developments put the citizen central. And also the developments of open source are getting bigger. Open source helps to decrease the dependency of individual companies.’

Paul Tang is member of the European Parliament for the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D). He just came back from a demonstration at the office of Facebook against personalized adds. In the European Parliament a majority says these personalized adds should be forbidden. Paul: ‘Someday this is should be a law, because the European Parliament has legislative power. Sometimes these decisions can take a long time, because of member states, lobby organizations and various interests. The good thing of this power, is the influence it has on Europe, but also on the rest of the world. However, sometimes I am shocked by all the work that still has to be done. We set up criteria for the usage of algorithms a while ago, but they are not yet put into practice. When it comes to the digital playing rules, we have a lot of work to do.’

Opportunities for Europe

If the lack of tech giants in Europe is an issue and we want to create a European tech sector as a solution to our dependency on American tech giants, are there developments going on that might be opportunities that might contribute to a European tech sector? ‘Quantumcomputing’, Jochem from Microsoft says. ‘Here we really have an opportunity to create an ecosystem and be unique. As Microsoft we would like the Dutch government to invest in this.’ According to Paul Tang, ‘the market for personalized data is fully dominated by the American giants. There are possibilities in the EU for non-personalized data. For example, in the Internet of Things. Bianca Wylie, open government advocate and Tech Reset Canada co-founder: ‘When I advise companies about their future, I always tell them to get away from behavioural data. Go for clean tech, robotics, infrastructure or health tech, but don’t make your business depend on the surveillance economy. Grow other sectors with an alternative vision.’

Bianca also spoke about the opportunities Covid-19 bring to the tech sector. ‘There is an opportunity but a threat as well’, she says. ‘We have to watch the emergency that is taking place now when it comes to procurement. Keep an eye on the democratic process. But this time is also an opportunity to get rid of the tech that is not successful but costs a lot. Check the existing infrastructure. Not working? Let it go! And value human capital. We need teachers, doctors, people who do contact tracing. Build tools that help them.’

Paul: ‘The personalized ads ask for the collection of more data. We have to ban this. I think that selling products is a different business model. It shows a clear relation between producer and consumer. The system in which the people give data, get free products with advertisements is vague and manipulative. Skip this business model and make space for new ones.’ Jochem (Microsoft) doesn’t want to comment on this, because this is mainly about his competitors. He does stress that is important to create space for a market in tech, there have to be possibilities to compete. The government has to set the framework. For example with GDPR. Values for AI could use such a framework as well.’

Data sovereignty is a long lasting wish of a lot of countries. GAIA-X could play a role in this. GAIA-X is an initiative by France and Germany to strengthen the digital sovereignty of Europe. It will make Europe less dependent on China and the USA. Sander is also critical: there is a risk of copying existing models. But we need a completely different data strategy, the system is no good.

About the steps we have to take, the three men agree: we need more influence of Europe, all from another angle. According to Paul, Europe has to win back soeverignty and call a halt to their development. Jochem wants European unity to become a powerful block that can set a framework. Sander: ‘Only with the cooperation in Europe we can build alternative data models’.

According to Amsterdam Smart City, the discussion of this evening is exactly the discussion that needs to take place. Collecting data is very useful to work on the challenges in our cities. But we have to be aware that these data are in the hands of the private sector. And that free usage comes with a price. Can we work on public values with the data? This asks for a collaboration between the public and

private sector, something we work on every day. Amsterdam Smart City always puts public value first: innovating together and transparent, using each other’s expertise, with the resident at the centre.

Do you want to watch the full episode? You can watch it here (in Dutch):

[##### Tech for Society #5: Waar is de Europese techsector?

Waarom zijn er geen Europese techreuzen meer?

Pakhuis de Zwijger](https://dezwijger.nl/programma/waar-is-de-europese-techsector)

In many innovation projects, scientific programs, and organizations, urban living labs are achieving good results. In this co-creative, interactive Urban Living Lab Summit, we are going to explore tools that are used and ways to standardize them.

During the Summit - Monday, June 22nd, from 2 to 6pm (CET) - we will address:

● What tools can be used for designing, measuring impact, collaborating, and learning within Living Labs?

● How have these tools been proven helpful for living labs to reach their goals?

● What are lessons/insights that have been learned by living lab practitioners during this Corona crisis?

Want to know who's speaking? Or how to register? https://www.ams-institute.org/events/urban-living-lab-summit-2020/

Friday 5 June 2020, the fourth edition of the Tech for Society series was launched in Pakhuis de Zwijger: a livestream series about the role of technology in a society that is currently under pressure of the Covid-19 crisis. The central theme of this edition: ‘Dataism’, defined as the believe that the world can be captured in data and algorithms. This concept makes us question its practical possibilities and how we could understand the world around us using data. How should we?

Miriam Rasch, researcher and teacher, wrote the book ‘Frictie. Ethiek in tijden van dataisme’. The book talks about dataism, which Miriam describes as a belief that everything in the world can be captured with data. It is the idea that collecting data shows you certainties and predictions about the world and this way, directs people and the society as a whole . Miriam calls it a ‘religion’, since ‘dataism could exclude other views.' Data look objective and neutral. Believers of this concept, therefore, see it as a necessity to make decision-making processes data-driven.

Martijn de Waal, researcher in the Lectorate of Play & Civic Media of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, recognizes this dataism in the world. As a kind believer of dataism himself, Martijn looks at the concept as a way to organize information and shape the world around us. ‘However, the central role of collecting data now, as done by platforms such as Facebook or Amazon, is too big. It is pretended as if data are objective and truthful. But collecting data is done via platforms with all kinds of underlying values, that are not always visible.’

Which kinds of values? And are these public values? Can the data work for people?’

At the Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture in Shenzhen in China, Martijn attended the exhibition ‘Eyes of the City’, where he found three interpretations on the usage of data:

1. Using data to map the lives of people and with the data, force them to live life according to rules and punish them if you do not oblige the rules. One of the main examples is face recognition in China.
2. Luxurious capitalism. Collecting large amounts of data on citizens and use these to offer services. Even services people don’t know they need until they are offered to them. For example, offer a coffee to people on the streets at the moment you know they would like a cup of coffee due to the data that you collected about them. There is a downside for people working in the platform economy who have to be available, according to the data.
3. In Shenzhen, companies got into contact with migrants living in a certain area. Together they collected data about bottlenecks in their lives. It helped people to show authorities they exist. The data collected are not objective, but it could be a starting point for discussion.

Policy based on data, data based on policy

In research, the usage of data is really important. Even more when policies are based on the data obtained during these studies. However, according to Caroline Nevejan, Chief Science Officer at the City of Amsterdam, you have to be transparent about the sources you used, data that are collected, and start a discussion about which statements could be seen as true or false. In a democracy everybody has to take a part in this process, which is of extreme importance in a world full of propaganda and fake news. In one of her researches, City Rhythm, she analyses the real world and the digital world and the interaction between these two. She addresses questions such as; can we trust data and can we use data for good? How can the digital world can become a part of the physical world? An example of this is, can people who like gardening can use the help of people who don't like gardening, but do like measuring and predicting growth of plants?

Arjan Widlak, director of the Kafka brigade, researches bureaucratic dysfunctioning: ‘Bureaucracy is a great asset, it ensures that all kinds of values materialize - such as legal certainty, integrity, but often this goes the wrong way. Some organizations do the opposite of what they should do. There is indifference without a much needed check.' The Kafka Brigade wants to come to manageable knowledge and people that care about bureaucracy. What kind of system are we creating when we digitalize the government? We are caught in a system of possibilities and impossibilities, where principles of responsible IT should be defined and carried out.

How do we make sure that these principles are put into practice?

Arjan: 'For example, when you drive too fast, you will be flashed. This is done automatically, as is the determination of the fine and the envelope that will be sent to you. It seems like there are no humans involved in the process. Although we might not all understand how this system works, we have a high trust in the way it functions. You have done something wrong and result is a fine. The confidence in the operation of the system is great because it functions without people and people are unreliable. But ultimately people are involved. There is a policy behind this process and people decide what is legal and what is not. Certainly, due to affairs and scandals, it is not certain whether the confidence in these techniques is still so big. So data are not objective. These are human creatures. You cannot take the people out, then you will lose ethics and the discussion about what is wrong or right.'

Constutional state and education

Caroline: ‘Data collecting functions in the constitutional state, in the city. Collect, acquire, return data has to be done according to certain laws. You can also go to court if this is done wrong. The European Rules for Data Protection (GDPR) are essential for the protection of personal data collected by companies. Companies now say, give us more rules because this works for us. We can do better business. So business runs better in a democracy’ .

Caroline continues: “Another aspect we have to look at is how data scientists are trained. What do they learn? It is staggering to see how data science education in university only has one course on responsible innovation. In collecting data we only talk about ethics, never about the rule of law. Business is always about social entrepreneurship, never about trade unions. In education, we create data scientists who have only one side of the knowledge, but get all the power. Because we did not teach the system designers how to think about democracy, power and the inequality of power.”

Martijn: ‘Yes, people in Silicon Valley work in a one-dimensional way. But this will change. There is more and more attention for ethics because students also ask for it. They want to contribute to society.’

Arjan: 'It is interesting how this also goes for the background of civil servants. This has a major influence on how the government functions. A long time ago, as a civil servant it was common practice to know something about constitutional law. You had to understand that values get meaning to each other.' Caroline: ‘Place this standards frame to the forefront again. Democracy and privacy by design. This makes it possible to discuss the interpretation of meaning.’

What can the current timeframe learn us?

Miriam: ‘We learned the value of not using tech all day. I hope we can remember it.’

Caroline: ‘Ask more questions every day. Even if you take something for granted.’

Arjan: ‘Yes, ask more questions. We can strive for privacy by design, but what does that mean? I plea for critical citizenship.’

Martijn: ‘This time showed us a revaluation for public space and values. Public space is suddenly used a lot more. What can that look like online?’

According to Amsterdam Smart City, the discussion of this evening is exactly the discussion that needs to take place. Collecting data is very useful to work on the challenges in our cities. But we have to be aware that these data are not neutral and we have to have a discussion about the issues and if the data are necessary to help solving the issues. Can we work on public values with the data? This asks for a collaboration between the public and private sector, something we work on every day. Amsterdam Smart City always puts public value first: innovating together and transparent, using each other’s expertise, with the resident at the centre.

Do you want to watch the full episode? You can watch it here (in Dutch):

[##### Tech for Society #4: Dataïsme: Is de wereld te vangen in data?

Wie heeft gelijk als de computer het fout heeft?

Pakhuis de Zwijger](https://dezwijger.nl/programma/dataisme-is-de-wereld-te-vangen-in-data%20%20%20)

Last year we worked with some incredible partners to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable economy. From future-proof food systems, and circular products and services, to finance within planetary boundaries, and resilient cities and regions, this report reflects on some of the key outcomes and projects that emerged across the Metabolic ecosystem in 2019. Follow the link to learn what we've been up to!

With growing numbers of pedestrians and cyclists returning to city streets, keeping a safe distance of 1.5m can be a challenge in many urban areas due to the way public space (or lack of it) has been designed.

The Social Distancing Dashboard, a project led by scientists from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), in collaboration with the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute), helps to raise awareness about constraints posed by the design of public space and contributes to decision making for COVID-19 related interventions in urban planning.

The Dashboard creates city maps that show on a street and neighborhood level if social distance rules can be respected when moving in public space. It offers an overview of different factors – such as the width of the footpath and location of bus stops – affecting our ability to respect social distancing rules.

The dynamic and color-coded maps are open access and available for use by e.g. policymakers, charged with making decisions on public health and city planners, tasked with making COVID-19 related interventions in the urban space. The dashboard is also intended to raise awareness amongst city residents – especially those in risk groups – who want to navigate the city streets as safely as possible.

Read the full article here: https://www.ams-institute.org/news/social-distancing-dashboard-provides-roadmap-city-dwellers/

Or go straight to the Social Distancing Dasboard: https://covid19.social-glass.tudelft.nl/#14/52.3722/4.88072

Last Friday, the second edition of the Tech for Society series was launched in Pakhuis de Zwijger: the livestream series about the role of technology in a society that is under pressure of the corona crisis . With this time a special focus on the contact-tracing apps. What do you think: can an app save the world?

Last Friday, the second edition of the Tech for Society series was launched in Pakhuis de Zwijger: the livestream series about the role of technology in a society that is under pressure of the corona crisis. With this time a special focus on the contact-tracing apps. What do you think: can an app save the world?

Why is tracking, contact-research, of an infectious person so important in times of corona? Mariska Petrignani, infection control doctor at GGD (public health service), explains: “GGD’s most important work at the moment is finding out who’s been in contact with an infected person to prevent rapid spreading of the infection. We do this by relying on the memory of the infected person. But there are always contacts you can’t recall or don’t know by name, for instance people you saw in the supermarket or public transport. But the question we have to ask is: to what extent are these people at risk for exposure and on what level do they contribute to the transmission of the disease?" There’s a lot of scientific discussion surrounding this topic.

According to Mariska, GPS-tracking, which can be recorded via an app, can help but doesn’t cover all relevant information. Is there a wall between you and the person you are in contact with? That is the type of information you need to know as well.

Michiel Heidenrijk, director of the Amsterdam Health & Technology Institute, adds to the discussion: “Can an app save the world? There is not one silver bullet, you need a combination of different therapies/solutions. Technology and data can offer parts of the solution.”. Mariska adds: “A common problem is that people can’t recall exactly where they have been. Technology can help. There are many ways to support this and it doesn’t have to be a contact-tracking app. For instance you can use your phone as a digital agenda to log your movements. We should think about other smart, digital solutions.”. Michiel: “We should embrace technology, use data, but it should be used in a sufficient and reliable way.”.

Hannes Grassegger, tech-journalist based in Zurich, sketches the European perspective. After a two week testing period of a contact-tracing app in Zurich, the app will be launched mid-June in Swiss. It’s completely voluntary, but hosted by the federal government, which is highly trusted by the public.

But isn’t it time for a broader European strategy? Hannes explains that coming week E-health will publish guidelines for the European common strategy for contact-tracing apps, to align the European members. E-health does not see the app itself as a major tool to bring back the freedom of movement between the member states, but they try to develop a framework to avoid the app becoming an obstacle to reintegrating the freedom of movement within Europe. Hannes: “If we have different states within Europe using different apps, there is need to have a set of common ground rules.”.

Lotje Siffels, philosopher in technology, conducts research on the influence of big-tech companies in the healthcare sector. She wants to stipulate two important discussion points: i) Technology is often seen as THE solution to the whole problem, while the problem is a lot more complex. It almost seems like the exit strategy is entirely depending on the use of contract-tracing apps. While this is certainly not the case; ii) Privacy is broadly mentioned within the discussion, but there are so much more social values that have to be discussed as well. Think about autonomy or democratic values. As an example Lotje mentions the ‘zwaai-app’: “If you meet someone or accidentally bump into someone, you wave with your phone and the data of the other person is saved. This helps you log your movements while being conscious of the data that is stored. You give a level of autonomy back to the people, because they are the ones consciously keeping track of their own encounters.” Active participation can also be part of the solution.

Lotte Houwing, policy advisor at Bits of Freedom, is the last speaker of the evening and raises questions surrounding the necessity of such an app. Do we actually want this app? What exactly is the problem we need solved? What are the advantages and disadvantages? What is the impact on our society? She adds that these questions need to be answered first before we can assess if an app is indeed the right tool to implement.

The discussion of this evening is exactly the discussion that needs to take place. Amsterdam Smart City beliefs in technology as a means, never as a goal. Before thinking about contact-tracking apps, the right questions need to be raised and answered. Amsterdam Smart City always puts public value first: innovating together and openly, using each other’s expertise, with the resident at the centre.

Do you want to watch the full episode? You can watch it here (in Dutch): <https://dezwijger.nl/programma/kan-een-app-de-wereld-redden>

Society is slowly opening up for business again. More people are going outside. And many businesses and government institutions are redesigning their spaces to give people enough room to keep 1.5m distance. While keeping distance seems like a simple rule, in practice many people find it difficult to stick to them.

That is why I wrote a short blog about the main crowd management principles that are useful to design public spaces for the 1.5m society. These principles are key to optimize the use of our public spaces and make it easier for people to keep their distance (blog is in Dutch).

As Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc on public health and local economies around the world, one over-looked Corona casualty has been our collective space. Here in densely populated Amsterdam we are slowly, carefully, cautiously transitioning into a new urban landscape. As a smart city architect and designer, I wanted to start exploring this new 1.5 meter unit on the Marineterrein, Amsterdam’s inner-city testbed for future living environments. Using a computer fan, dental mirror, lego, and yes - a Laser pointer, I set out with my son to visualize what social distancing means on footbridges, fitness gardens, picnic tables, park benches, stairs, swimming docks and familiar Amsterdam furniture. Watch the video and learn how to build your own at https://www.tapp.nl/blog/mapping-social-distance-in-an-inner-city-testbed

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