The Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for BOLD Cities conducts research on the use of urban technology with academics, city governments and civic society, brings these parties together, and stimulates debate on this topic. The Centre stimulates perspectives that do not treat the use of urban technologies as a given, but as the subject of democratic decision-making and contestation.
A focus on contestability
The Centre for BOLD Cities focuses on improving contestability. Governments and municipalities increasingly opt to implement data use and digital tools in policy designs. As a result, the physical public domain becomes progressively infiltrated with digital technology.
The Centre for BOLD Cities believes that in each phase of technology (from development, testing, to implementation), all stakeholders, including citizens, should have the opportunity to contest policy designs that do not serve public needs. Contestability enables policy design that reflects the behaviours, lived experiences and values of all citizens in the context of digital urban spaces. It advocates for policy design that harnesses digital technology to support the everyday realities of all citizens, rather than forcing their lives to conform to undemocratic, top-down technological systems
Thus, an approach of contestability safeguards the autonomy of citizens to interact with public institutions and participate in the public domain on their terms.
Democratic accountability in urban digitalisation
As an element of contestability, the Centre for BOLD Cities argues for democratic oversight in the process of digitalisation of cities. The use of data and technological tools should be transparent and explainable. Feedback, revision and contestation should be embraced from within by public institutions. Contestability involves not only making digital interventions accountable to all segments of urban society, but also clearly identifying which governmental bodies or officials can be held accountable for their design and implementation.
The Centre for BOLD Cities works towards contestability through three pillars.
- Through collaborative research projects (Team Science) with academics, city governments and civic society, the Centre for BOLD Cities conducts research embedded in interdisciplinarity. The Centre for BOLD Cities aims to conduct research that not only identifies and analyses how contestability functions and can be strengthened, but also develops concrete tools and interventions to help society move toward more contestable digital governance.
- Through the promotion of in-house journalistic productions, which include academic, civic and governmental perspectives, the Centre for BOLD Cities
aims to foster the debate about the use of technology across all layers of society. - Through the promotion of events and activities, both organised by the centre itself and other organisations, The Centre for BOLD Cities intends to contribute to a network of academics, citizens and other stakeholders that is concerned with the debate on the use of technology in urban settings and that is well-informed about all the available opportunities.