Thread by @TheGovLab

David Belt, Co-Founder of NewLab, opens the Public Showcase. “One of the things that make me love New York [...] is that no matter how audacious the idea, no matter how steep the climb, there is always support for innovative ideas.”

Shaina Horowitz, NewLab: “For us, the Circular City renders a new way of making a city smart [...] where we can use technology to meet real needs and not just use tech for tech’s sake.“

The Circular City was about how we could create a platform for all these different stakeholders to come together [...] because that’s really what’s needed for innovation.

“With this kind of approach, data can save lives. We can advocate for a new crosswalk, a new intersection, and make data work for the city in a real way.”

Ana Ariel of NYCEDC talks about the growth of tech in the City of New York thanks, in part, to investments by the City and industry partners. “It’s not only about the space, a place like NewLab fosters a curated community [...] that educates the public and gov about technology”

She talks about how Circular City is emblematic about the kind of collaboration needed to move NYC forward and make the City a better place for residents.

“Government plays a critical role in ensuring the right frameworks are in place to ensure data is used responsibly.”

Regina Myer, Pres of Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, says projects like Circular City help us “get smarter about improving urban life.”

Myer: “We really want to leverage the data from CARMERA, Numina, and Citiesense to improve urban life [...] to streamline operations so we can deliver a better downtown for everyone.”

Myer: “With data, we can continue to identify needs and determine appropriate interventions so we can continue having a better downtown.”

Tara Pham, co-founder and CEO of Numina, talks about how her company aims to improve how NYC operates, helping it understand how it can make cities more responsive and safer... while protecting resident privacy.

Tara talks about the insights her company gleaned from its data. They found that pedestrians were 53.3% more likely to walk into the street in response to scaffolding and construction.

Jessie Lazarus of CARMERA talks about why her company is important for autonomous vehicles. It provides high-def, centimeter-precise maps to ensure vehicles can move safely through urban environments.

She discusses how “exhaust” from work provided value to policy and planning folks “We stumbled upon a new model for measuring pedestrian density in blurring the faces of people the street [...] We could measure how it changed over days, over months, and over years.”

Starling Childs of Citiesense opens by discussing his hope of using Circular City data to help in “establishing a better local information source to help local stakeholders make better decisions.”

And now we move on to the research teams. Andre Correa d’Almeida opens with explaining how circularity can be applied to data.

“Data is often not wielded in a way that helps regular people [...] Even though overall we are better off, there is a growing level of inequality. This is why circular city data matters. [...] The world is in need of smarter ways of collaborating.”

“Sandbox collaboration is needed to effectively explore the value of urban data.”

Caroline McHeffey: “One of the challenges that we learned is that it is difficult to collaborate with a lot of sectors. It’s not just about logistics but managing intellectually across sectors.”

Stefaan talks about how GovLab identifies the value proposition of circular city data for economic development. “We developed a new canvas that helped us understand what is the problem, what is the data, and what are the use cases for public good and are monetizable.”

@_AndrewYoung explains the different value propositions of circular city data for Downtown Brooklyn: Situational Analysis, Prediction, Cause and Effect Analysis, Impact Assessment, and Exosystem Support.

Arnaud explains the importance of this work for gov. “By matching the data start-ups have and the needs of the city, you can really create value for people and agencies.”

Nilda: “Among the agencies there was a lot of interest in the possibilities presented by the three start-ups and their work.”

What comes next?

Nilda: Role of data for improvement of life came up across all agencies

Arnaud: Bringing different agencies together; creating mechanisms for partnership with companies; improving city understanding of startups

Stefaan provides his answer

“It’s important to make these partnerships systematic, sustainable, and responsible.“

How can we do this? Three steps:

1.) We need to think about and nurture city data collaboratives

2.) We need to establish new kinds of intermediaries and innovate business models

3.) “We need to become data-driven about using data.“

First Q: Why work with start-ups and not larger companies?

Arnaud: “Big comps are all about using products that work everywhere. Here, the focus is all about Downtown Brooklyn [...] It’s okay to focus on tiny, tiny markets and put privacy first.”

Second Q: What is the recycling part of circular data?

Stefaan: Using data collected from the city about the city to improve the city.

Q3: Did the research group think at all about governance especially with regard to data privacy rights and citizen consent?

Stefaan: There are a whole range of questions we need to address. Do we need a multi-stakeholder approach? An ethical council?

Stefaan: “What we really need is a new human infrastructure. We’ve worked on the concept of data stewardship, individuals who can understand the value of data and extract it in a responsible manner.”

Q4. How are you presenting these insights to the people?

@_AndrewYoung: Often involves using an open data approach that is complimentary with private data

Nilda: “For issues involving things like water quality, sanitation, this work [with circular city data] is evidentially scalable.”

Aaaaand that’s a wrap! Feel free to let us know your thoughts about GovLab’s work either here or at the Public Showcase. Thanks again to @NewLab and all the Circular City partners for their exceptional work tonight.