During the semester, each student is asked to write two Medium posts about a “future signal” - a new article, podcast, etc. on an emerging trend or development in civic tech - on that week’s topic. Below is my first signal on digital master planning. You can also view it on Medium here.
“We strongly believe that human rights principles such as privacy, freedom of expression, and democracy must be incorporated by design into digital platforms starting with locally-controlled digital infrastructures and services”
— Declaration of Cities Coalition for Digital Rights
Image from https://citiesfordigitalrights.org/#
At the end of 2018, three leading global cities — Amsterdam, Barcelona and New York — announced an exciting new initiative for gov tech policy: the Cities Coalition for Digital Rights. Their directive is to create policies, tools and resources to advance digital human rights around the world. The Coalition has five core principles:
1. Universal and equal access to the Internet, and digital literacy
2. Privacy, data protection and security
3. Transparency, accountability, and non-discrimination of data, content and algorithm
4. Participatory democracy, diversity and inclusion
5. Open and ethical digital service standards
This coalition, and their principles, were designed with a global reach in mind and specifically in accordance with the UN Charter for Human Rights and Principles for the Internet. On their website, citizens can sign a petition asking their city to join the Coalition. Together, the cities plan to promote and track their progress and will work with the UN Human Settlements Programme to carry out their work during the coming year.
This initiative is groundbreaking because it is the first time city governments have created a joint initiative on this important topic. Many cities around the world have developed comprehensive plans for e-governance, open data and “smart” infrastructure — all elements of what is referred to under the umbrella term “digital master planning” — but this is the first time that cities are working together to develop citizen-centric and protective guidelines for implementing those plans.
This approach is incredibly important to the future of cities as more services are delivered online and built infrastructure integrates with the Internet. In their technology planning, it is essential that city governments ensure that citizens are included, protected, and treated equitably in these digital and internet-enabled spaces.
References:
DS14EU. “The Cities Coalition for Digital Rights: a global initiative to put citizens’ digital rights at the centre of the policy debate.” Medium. 13 December 2018. https://medium.com/dsi4eu/the-cities-coalition-for-digital-rights-a-global-initiative-to-put-citizens-digital-rights-at-601963879c90. Accessed 13 February 2019.
New York City Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer. (2018). New York City, Amsterdam and Barcelona Launch Global Coalition To Protect Digital Rights [Press release]. Retrieved from https://citiesfordigitalrights.org/assets/NYC-AMS-BCN-LaunchGlobalCoalitionToProtectDigitalRights.pdf
NYC Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer. Cities Coalition for Digital Rights Website. https://tech.cityofnewyork.us/projects/cities-coalition-for-digital-rights/. Accessed 13 February 2019.