The Governance of Big Data in Smart Cities

Contemporary developments in big data and smart cities offer the promise of transformed public services and more effective public policy-making. At the heart of such initiatives are developments in new ICTs embodying new... [ view full abstract ]

Contemporary developments in big data and smart cities offer the promise of transformed public services and more effective public policy-making. At the heart of such initiatives are developments in new ICTs embodying new information flows and new ways of collecting, storing and processing data. By definition the smart city environment is data intensive and information flows become central to determining services and shaping policy, including from new insights offered by data-matching, profiling and previously unforeseen information flows. This data, which includes administrative and personal data, is generated from traditional administrative data sets, e-government services, new sensory devices, as well as from social media and the Internet. The quantities of data involved are so large that they are difficult to comprehend. Whilst there has been a rapid evolution in information processing in the smart city rules concerning the governance of data have remained relatively static, with the assumption that existing regulatory mechanisms around information processing, especially in regard to the processing of personal data will suffice. This paper seeks to examine whether this is the case, whether new information processes associated with big data and smart city initiatives raise new concerns for those charged with governing data processes.

There is currently a patchwork of different mechanisms governing the processing of data, including national statutory regulatory instruments, industrial self-regulation, and governance by (technical) design, as well as an extensive literature on the governance of ‘traditional’ data protection. In contrast, the literature on governing data analytics in smart city contexts is embryonic, as policy-makers and academics seek to understand new information processes and data flows, in an environment where traditional concepts of data ownership, data minimisation and anonymisation are being challenged by the needs of big data and smart cities. This paper seeks to address these issues by examining how national data protection authorities are approaching the issue of big data. This is achieved via international comparative research, designed to illicit the significance placed on big data initiatives by those responsible for its governance. The research presented in this paper includes a literature review, an international review of the websites of national data protection authorities, alongside two in-depth case studies of two Westminster-based jurisdictions (the UK and New Zealand). The latter includes the reporting of qualitative interviews with key actors responsible for the governance of big data. From this body of empirical evidence the paper seeks to assess the degree to which rules governing data processes are evolving alongside and as quickly as the technology.