Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Continued Transformation of the Public Sphere: On the Road to Smart Cities, Living Labs and a New Understanding of Society

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Technology and the City

Part of the book series: Philosophy of Engineering and Technology ((POET,volume 36))

Abstract

This chapter explores the transformation of the public sphere by Smart Cities and Living Labs. It explores this transformation by analysing three data-driven projects in cities around the world. These projects raise significant legal and ethical concerns because they transform and challenge valuable elements of the public sphere. The first section provides the reader with a theoretical lens for this chapter by briefly describing features of a meaningful public sphere as proposed by Jürgen Habermas and discussing the concepts of Living Labs and Smart Cities. In section two, three and four, three cases are analysed, namely the smart nation project of Singapore, Google’s Living Lab ‘Sidewalk’ in Toronto, Canada, and the Living Lab ‘Stratums Eind 2.0’ in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. These cases will be used to revisit the concept of the public sphere and its transformations as proposed by Jürgen Habermas. We propose that smart Cities and Living Labs challenge important features of an open, neutral and democratic public sphere by raising several ethical and legal concerns.

This chapter uses insights from previously published research in the Nederlands Juristenblad, 2017 (6) p. 374–382.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/.

  2. 2.

    https://www.sidewalklabs.com/.

  3. 3.

    http://www.openlivinglabs.eu/livinglab/eindhoven-living-lab.

  4. 4.

    The traditional liberal private-public divide has been notoriously criticized by feminist theory. For a long time the ‘private’ sphere was equated with the ‘home’, which was apolitical and ‘free’ from government interference. Philosophers like Carole Pateman (1989) and MacKinnon (1989) have criticized the private sphere of the ‘home’ for being a place of necessity and domination and the public sphere as a space only accessible to (white) men. For that reason, they argued for erasing the distinction between the public and private spheres: the private is the political. We do not assume the existence of a public-private dichotomy nor do we propose the (re)instalment of such a distinction. The distinction merely features within the context of Habermas’ explanation about the structural transformation of the public sphere. We recognize a myriad of social contexts with different privacy expectations (Nissenbaum 2009). Nevertheless, we use the (ideal) notions of the public sphere and the private sphere to raise concerns with regard to the transformation of the public sphere along with the rise of smart cities.

  5. 5.

    http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:979171/FULLTEXT01.pdf.

  6. 6.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/about/Smart-Nation.

  7. 7.

    Most of what is described in this section comes directly from the project’s website or is a paraphrase thereof.

  8. 8.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/apps; https://www.sgsecure.sg/; https://www.police.gov.sg/sgsecure; http://www.nea.gov.sg/; http://www.singstat.gov.sg/services/singstat-mobile-app; https://www.scdf.gov.sg/content/scdf_internet/en/community-and-volunteers/mobile_phone_technology.html; http://www.mnd.gov.sg/mso/mobile-about.htm.

  9. 9.

    https://www.nrf.gov.sg/rie2020.

  10. 10.

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/products/singapore-a-smart-nation/singapore-a-smart-living-laboratory/.

  11. 11.

    http://brandinsider.straitstimes.com/hitachi/implementing-the-smart-city/—COE likely stands for Certificate of Entitlement https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltaweb/en/roads-and-motoring/owning-a-vehicle/vehicle-quota-system/overview-of-vehicle-quota-system.html.

  12. 12.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/resources/open-data.

  13. 13.

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/products/singapore-a-smart-nation/singapore-a-smart-living-laboratory/.

  14. 14.

    https://www.nrf.gov.sg/programmes/virtual-singapore.

  15. 15.

    https://www.tech.gov.sg/-/media/GovTech/Media-Room/Speeches/2017/5/Factsheet-Smart-Nation-Sensor-Platform.pdf.

  16. 16.

    http://www.pmo.gov.sg/national-day-rally-2017.

  17. 17.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/initiatives/Health.

  18. 18.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/initiatives/Living.

  19. 19.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/initiatives/Mobility.

  20. 20.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/initiatives/Services.

  21. 21.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/initiatives/Health/assistive-technology-analytics-and-robotics-for-aging-and-healthcare.

  22. 22.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/initiatives/Health/healthhub-portal%2D%2Da-digital-healthcare-solution.

  23. 23.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/initiatives/Health/national-steps-challenge%2D%2Dan-app-towards-healthy-and-active-lifestyle.

  24. 24.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/initiatives/Health/telehealth%2D%2Dintegrated-and-seamless-healthcare-services-at-home.

  25. 25.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/initiatives/Living/smart-homes%2D%2Dtech-enabled-solutions-for-homes-in-singapore.

  26. 26.

    http://www20.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10296p.nsf/PressReleases/F93B15F80588397748257D500009CE6C?OpenDocument.

  27. 27.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/initiatives/Mobility/contactless-fare-payment-for-public-transport-in-singapore.

  28. 28.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/initiatives/Mobility/mobility-on-demand%2D%2Dreal-time-demand-driven-transport-through-apps.

  29. 29.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/initiatives/Mobility/open-data-and-analytics-for-urban-transportation.

  30. 30.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/initiatives/Mobility/self-driving-vehicles-sdvs%2D%2Dfuture-of-mobility-in-singapore. See also: https://www.smartnation.sg/initiatives/Mobility/spearheading-research-in-standards-for-self-driving-vehicles-sdvs.

  31. 31.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/initiatives/Services/digital-government%2D%2Dpublic-services-made-more-seamless-with-technology.

  32. 32.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/initiatives/Services/moments-of-life-initiative-begins-with-supporting-every-young-child.

  33. 33.

    https://www.smartnation.sg/initiatives/Services/regulatory-sandbox-for-innovative-fintech-experimentation. See also: https://www.smartnation.sg/initiatives/Services/towards-a-smart-cashless-society-with-contactless-payment.

  34. 34.

    http://brandinsider.straitstimes.com/hitachi/implementing-the-smart-city/.

  35. 35.

    https://www.nrf.gov.sg/programmes/corporate-laboratory@university-scheme.

  36. 36.

    One of such collaborations is in the area of promoting cyber security. https://www.nrf.gov.sg/Data/PressRelease/Files/201610241232595116-2016-1022%20NUSSingtel%20Corp%20Lab%20-%20Press%20Release%20(final).pdf

  37. 37.

    https://www.opengovasia.com/articles/7182-exclusive-fostering-public-private-sector-partnerships-in-singapore.

  38. 38.

    https://www.nrf.gov.sg/programmes/virtual-singapore.

  39. 39.

    https://www.sidewalklabs.com/.

  40. 40.

    https://www.sidewalklabs.com/blog/the-tremendous-untapped-power-of-data-to-reinvent-city-services/.

  41. 41.

    http://www.openlivinglabs.eu/livinglab/eindhoven-living-lab. http://www.midpointcsi.nl/powered-by-social-innovation/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/LLTrillion2015.pdf.

  42. 42.

    https://e52.nl/een-kijkje-in-het-lab-van-het-stratumseind/.

  43. 43.

    http://www.smartdatacity.org/stratumseind-living-lab/.

  44. 44.

    http://www.philips.nl/a-w/about/news/archive/standard/about/news/press/20131209-Stratumseind-Eindhoven-wordt-proeftuin.html.

  45. 45.

    https://www.cursor.tue.nl/fileadmin/user_upload/Magazines/PDF_jes_Nederlands/57/Cursor_04__NL_spread.pdf.

  46. 46.

    http://www.europarl.europa.eu/charter/pdf/text_en.pdf.

  47. 47.

    Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation).

  48. 48.

    Article 5 paragraph 1 sub b GDPR.

  49. 49.

    Article 5 paragraph 1 sub a GDPR.

  50. 50.

    Article 5 paragraph 1 sub b GDPR.

  51. 51.

    Article 5 paragraph 1 sub c GDPR.

  52. 52.

    Article 5 paragraph 1 sub e GDPR.

  53. 53.

    Article 5 paragraph 1 sub a GDPR.

  54. 54.

    Article 12, 13 and 14 GDPR.

  55. 55.

    ECtHR, Colon v. the Netherlands, application no. 49458/06, 15 May 2012.

  56. 56.

    https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Guide_Art_8_ENG.pdf.

  57. 57.

    See also: Von Hippel, 2005.

References

  • American Psychological Association. (2010). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct (with the 2010 amendments). Washington: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beauchamp, T. L. (2011). Informed consent: Its history, meaning, and present challenges. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 20, 515–523.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyd, D., & Crawford, K. (2012). Critical questions for big data: provocations for a cultural, technological, and scholarly phenomenon. Information, Communication, & Society, 15(5), 662–679.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • British Psychological Society. (2014). Code of human research ethics. Leicester: The British Psychological Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chesbrough, H. (2006). Open innovation: the new imperative for creating and profiting from technology. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, S. (2018). Beware of Google’s Intentions. Wired. Retrieved March, 3 2018, from https://www.wired.com/story/sidewalk-labs-toronto-google-risks/

  • Dingman, S. (2017). With Toronto, Alphabet looks to revolutionize city-building. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved March 3, 2017, from: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/with-toronto-alphabet-looks-to-revolutionize-city-building/article36634779/

  • Felt, U., Wynee, B., Callon, M., Gonçalves, M. E., Jasanoff, S., Jepsen, M., et al. (2007). Taking European knowledge society seriously. Brussels: Directorate General for Research, Science, Economy and Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haans, A., & De Kort, Y. A. W. (2014). Reducing social aggression with dynamic lighting: the De-escalate project in Eindhoven. Justitiele Verkenningen, 40(4), 54–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. (1989[1962]). Structural transformations of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of Bourgeois society. Cambridge: Polity Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. (1991[1962]). Structural transformations of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of Bourgeois society. Cambridge: MIT Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. (1996[1992]). Between facts and norms. Contributions to a discourse theory of law and democracy. Cambridge: MIT Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansson, S. O. (2003). Ethical criteria of risk assessment. Erkenntnis, 59, 291–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hausman, D. M., & Welch, B. (2010). Debate: To nudge or not to nudge. Journal of Political Philosophy, 18(1), 123–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krohn, W., & Weyer, J. (1994). Society as a Laboratory: the social risks of experimental research. Science and Public Policy, 21(3), 173–183.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lanzing, M. (2019). Strongly recommended: revisiting decisional privacy to judge hypernudging in self-tracking technologies. Philosophy & Technology., 32(3), 549–568. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-018-0316-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacKinnon, C. A. (1989). Toward a feminist theory of the state. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, M. W., & Schinzinger, R. (2000). Ethics in engineering (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayer-Schönberger, V., & Cukier, K. (2013). Big data: A revolution that will transform how we live, work and think. London: John Murray Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nissenbaum, H. (2009). Privacy in context. Technology, policy, and the integrity of social life. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Nys, T., & Engelen, B. (2016). Judging nudging: Answering the manipulation objection. Political Studies, 65(1), 199–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pateman, C. (1989). The disorder of women: Democracy, feminism, and political theory. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pols, A. (2016). May stakeholders be involved in design without informed consent? the case of hidden design. Science and Engineering Ethics, 23(3), 1–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roessler, B. (2015). Should personal data be a tradable good? On the moral limits of markets in privacy. In B. Roessler & D. Mokrosinksa (Eds.), Social dimensions of privacy (pp. 141–161). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Satz, D. (2010). Why some things should not be for sale. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sauter, M. (2018). Google’s Guinea-Pig City: Will Toronto turn its residents into Alphabet’s experiment? The answer has implications for cities everywhere. The Atlantic. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/02/googles-guinea-pig-city/552932/

  • Susser, D., Roessler, B., & Nissenbaum, H. F. (2018). Online manipulation: Hidden influences in a digital world. SSRN. Retrieved December 23, 2018, from https://ssrn.com/abstract=3306006

  • Thaler, R., & Sunstein, C. (2008). Nudge. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Townsend, A. M. (2013). Smart cities: Big data, civic hackers, and the quest for a new utopia. New York: W.W. Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaidhyanathan, S. (2011). The googlization of everything (and why we should worry). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Van de Poel, I. (2009). The introduction of nanotechnology as a societal experiment. In S. Arnaldi, A. Lorenzet, & F. Russo (Eds.), Technoscience in progress: Managing the uncertainty of nanotechnology (pp. 129–142). Amsterdam: IOS Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van de Poel, I. (2011). Nuclear energy as a social experiment. Ethics, Policy & Environment, 14, 285–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van der Sloot, B. (2015). Privacy as Personality Right: Why the ECtHR’s Focus on Ulterior Interests Might Prove Indispensable in the Age of “Big Data”. Utrecht Journal of International and European Law, 31(80), 25–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Von Hippel, E. (2005). Democratizing innovation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, T. M. (2013). Nudging and manipulation. Political Studies, 61(2), 341–355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zuboff, S. (2015). Big other: surveillance capitalism and the prospects of an information civilization. Journal of Information Technology, 30, 75–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the participants of the Philosophy of the City Summer Colloquium 2018 at the University of Technology Twente for their constructive comments. Furthermore, we would like to thank the anonymous referees of this contribution for their helpful remarks.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Law, Technology and Society, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands

    Bart Van Der Sloot

  2. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

    Marjolein Lanzing

Authors
  1. Bart Van Der Sloot
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Marjolein Lanzing
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bart Van Der Sloot .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Michael Nagenborg  & Margoth González Woge  & 

  2. Ethics and Philosophy of Technology Section, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

    Taylor Stone

  3. Department of Philosophy, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

    Pieter E. Vermaas

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Van Der Sloot, B., Lanzing, M. (2021). The Continued Transformation of the Public Sphere: On the Road to Smart Cities, Living Labs and a New Understanding of Society. In: Nagenborg, M., Stone, T., González Woge, M., Vermaas, P.E. (eds) Technology and the City. Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol 36. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52313-8_16

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation