ABOUT / FAQ
What is "platform urbanism" and what is "platform urbanism data sharing" (PUDS)?
A relative neologism, "platform urbanism" is a term coined to refer to the deployment of networked digital technologies that create marketplaces or otherwise foster coordinated user behaviors in the city—often intermediating the exchange of goods and services in ways that take advantage of urban density, infrastructure, and environments. In part a reframing of "platform capitalism" (a term popularized by Nick Srnicek's 2016 book of the same name) the term "platform urbanism" lends an important specificity to the examination of the political economy of platforms by focusing on the ways in which a subset of "platform" companies— such as Uber or AirBnB and other so called "sharing economy" companies—are inherently tied to urban space.
The rise of inherently urban platforms has brought challenges and opportunities to urban communities and the local governments that represent them. The capture of inherently urban data by platforms is increasingly a part of how regulators are thinking about how to navigate the deployment of of these networked technologies within urban space and manage their impacts and externalities. Platform urbanism data sharing (or "PUDS" as I've abbreviated it), then, refers to the sharing of data between urban platforms and local governments—often mandated by policy—for government purposes such as oversight, impact evaluation, program collaboration, or for informing data-driven policy and planning.
Who has a right to community-generated data in the city?
Municipal governments are grappling with this contested question with policy mandates requiring urban platform companies, stating with the sharing economy—from micromobility platforms like Lime or Bird, to short-term rental platforms like AirBnb or VRBO, to ride-hail platforms like Uber and Lyft—to report detailed data to relevant public agencies. These novel policies have become a key battlefield in an ongoing power struggle between cities and the urban platforms operating within their borders. Debates over privacy, tech accountability, and digital sovereignty, point not only to the controversy but to what's at stake for the future of urban governance. Too often the narrative can devolve into a false binary, pinning public sector against private sector in a zero-sum game of “who do we trust more in the age of surveillance capitalism?”
What is the Platform Urbanism Data Sharing (PUDS) Policy Hub?
“The Platform Urbanism Data Sharing (PUDS) Policy Hub'' is a new research initiative and set of tools that seeks to inject empiricism into the conversation surrounding local government data mandates for platform urbanism companies by providing clear access to the policies themselves. By making the specific language laying out the requirements and design of data sharing programs more discoverable, comparable and accessible across jurisdictions we hope to help policy-makers, activists, and academics make sense of these regulations—and the debate surrounding them.
What are the goals of this project?
The primary goals of PUDS Policy Hub are to advance the state of platform urbanism theory and practice with respect to data sharing by supporting the following stakeholders in the following ways:
- Shared learnings for better PUDS policy
Help local government officials learn from each other to support best practices and better PUDS policy making.
- Transparency and evaluation for PUDS accountability
Help advocates and activists track government rule-making and hold public officials to account as PUDS policy develops.
- Insights from the field to inform the conversation
Help PUDS scholars and community stakeholders connect the dots between what is happening on the ground and the broader implications for privacy, democracy, and digital sovereignty.
Who is behind the Platform Urbanism Data Sharing (PUDS) Policy Hub?
This project is led by Stephen Larrick as part of his academic year 2021-2022 Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Relations.
You can learn more about Stephen and his team of research assistants on the Team page and learn more about how to contact us or get involved here.