Call for papers: Future-proofing the city: A human rights-based approach to the governance of algorithmic, biometric and smart city technologies

Tuesday, 31. May 2022 - 23:30

The research project titled ‘Long-term Human Rights Risks of Smart City Technologies’, the Legal Tech Lab of the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki*, the Graduate Program in Science and Technology Studies at York University and the City Institute at York University invite you to submit abstracts for the special issue ‘Future-Proofing the City: A Human Rights-Based Approach to the Governance of Algorithmic, Biometric and Smart City Technologies’ in Internet Policy Review.

Since the early 2000s, smart city policies have aimed to make urban spaces safer, more sustainable and innovative with the help of big data, biometric technologies and, more recently, artificial intelligence (AI). In pursuit of the same goals of safety and economic efficiency, the public sector has been rapidly adopting biometric and automated decision-making systems in areas ranging from law enforcement to transportation to healthcare. These two interlocking trends have been subject to a heated public controversy over the smart city technologies subjecting citizens to surveillance, nudging and algorithmic governance, which may threaten their human and fundamental rights (Galdon-Clavell 2013; Jewell, 2018; Joh, 2019; Ranchordas, 2020; Monahan, 2018; Sadowski, 2020). Scholars have identified certain commercial and public smart city projects as advancing gender discrimination and land dispossession practices (Datta, 2015, 2020; Kitchin, 2014; Greenfield, 2013). Smart city technologies may facilitate surveillance creep (Frischmann & Selinger, 2020; Kitchin, 2020) and risk chilling effects on freedoms of movement, association and thought (Solove, 2006; Penney, 2021; Ahmad & Dethy, 2019). Implementation of emotion recognition technology in the streets further undermines our rights to human dignity and autonomy (Valcke et al., 2021). In the worst case scenario, they may enable digital repression (Feldstein, 2021; Williams, 2021).

The human rights–based approach (HRBA) (Donahoe & Metzker, 2019; Scassa, 2020; Smuha, 2020) is of acute theoretical and practical relevance both in the context of research on smart cities and in the field of AI ethics, yet the dialogue between these fields is rather limited (Brauneis & Goodman, 2018; Jewell, 2018, Zambonelli et al., 2018). While sustainability remains a central driver behind smart city policies both in the European Union and the United States (European Commission, 2020; Moving FIRST Act 2021-2022), a growing body of research points towards the wider human rights implications of these initiatives (Reuter, 2019, 2020; Davis, 2020; Brown, 2019). Scholars have supported the application of human rights as a normative framework for governing AI throughout its life cycle, to compensate for the vagueness and unenforceability of AI ethics frameworks (McGregor et al., 2019; Yeung et al., 2020; Cobbe et al., 2020). Other promising developments in this area include human rights–based designs in AI (Aizenberg & van den Hoven, 2020), impact assessment methods (Mantelero & Esposito, 2021; Castets-Renard, 2021) and audits (Council of Europe, 2017).

The European Union has pioneered the HRBA with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which safeguards the fundamental rights and freedoms of data subjects with measures such as data protection by-design and impact assessments (GDPR Arts. 1, 25, and 35.) The EU’s AI Act proposal extends this risk-based HRBA (Yeung & Bygrave, 2021) in the realm of artificial intelligence (AIA Arts. 7(1)(b),14(2), 62, 65, 67), heavily relying on standardisation (AIA Art. 40; Borgesius & Veale, 2011; Ebers, 2022). Protection of fundamental rights is also central in the EU’s Digital Services Act proposal addressing the work of online platforms (DSA para. 41, Arts. 1 (2)(b) and 26 (1)(b); Moore & Tambini, 2021, 1-17).

Scope of the special issue

While the GDPR and other policies seek to mitigate a range of potential harms associated with smart cities, the compliance with and enforceability of these regulations remain an issue. In addition, these proposed regulations do not sufficiently address the collective harms associated with artificial intelligence (Smuha, 2021; Leslie et al., 2021; Yeung, 2019). Another question is whether the initiatives put forward to secure fundamental rights in the digital realm (European Commission, 2022; Heikkilä, 2022) account for the issues that arise at the interface of digital and spatial dimensions in a smart city?

The objective of this special issue is to gain a holistic understanding of the ethical and human rights implications of the algorithmic, biometric and smart city technologies that have been quietly invading our streets. We intend to stimulate a productive dialogue between researchers studying smart cities, AI ethics and regulation, digital surveillance and platform economy in a variety of disciplines, including science and technology studies, media studies, law, urban studies, critical algorithm and data studies, surveillance studies, political science, computer science, philosophy and gender studies.

Besides discussing the fundamental rights such as data protection, privacy and non-discrimination, we invite a critical reflection on the effectiveness of the existing human rights framework in addressing other challenges associated with the digitisation of public spaces and services. Submissions taking into account the temporal dimension of human rights protection in smart cities are encouraged. While the special issue primarily covers the geographical areas of Europe and North America, we invite contributions discussing solutions for other jurisdictions, where they build a dialogue with the European developments, such as the fundamental rights–driven technology regulation.

Focus of the papers

  • Ethical and human rights risks associated with algorithmic, biometric and smart city technologies, including gaps in existing human rights frameworks

  • Municipalities’ means to ensure and influence the protection of human rights

  • Human rights adherence by design and through impact assessments and audits

  • Human rights–driven regulation of AI and data, including fields such as corporate human rights due diligence and public procurement

  • Human rights adherence through governance and standardisation

  • Citizens’ means to reclaim their human rights in a smart city, including civil disobedience

  • Using technology to protect human rights and achieve the SDG 11 of sustainable cities and communities

Special issue editors

Alina Wernick
Anna Artyushina

Important dates

21 March 2022: Release of the Call for papers

31 May: Deadline for the expression of interest and abstract submissions (500 word abstracts) directly to alina.wernick@helsinki.fi

24 June: Feedback / Invitation to submit full text submissions

26 August: A thematic workshop (optional) held jointly by the Legal Tech Lab, Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki (in-person or remote participation)

18 September: Full text submissions deadline. All details on text submissions can be found under: http://policyreview.info/authors

31 November: Authors receive comprehensive peer review and feedback

31 December: Final submissions

15 March 2023: Publication of the special issue

 

*) The initiative is funded by a project grant from the Kone Foundation, Finland (2020-2023) and an event-specific Catalyst Grant from the Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities.

References

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Brauneis, R. & Goodman, E. (2018). Algorithmic transparency for the smart city. Yale Journal of Law & Technology, 20(1), 103-176.

Brown, T. (2019). Human Rights in the Smart City: Regulating Emerging Technologies in City Places. In L. Reins (ed.), Regulating New Technologies in Uncertain Times (pp. 47-65). Asser Press.

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