From March to June 2024, in partnership with Brussel Academy and Muntpunt, a series of conferences on the theme of data and its uses in Brussels will be offered to associations, institutions, training centers and other groups working in connection with the public in Brussels.

The focus will be on the need to better understand how urban space has over the years become a field for data production. We will see how this data production is linked to the so-called “smart city”, and to the use of algorithms and artificial intelligence techniques to interpret the data collected.

The sessions will address questions such as: How is data production and collection organized in the city? Where is this data collected, and for what purposes? Does it benefit all citizens? What fears and hopes can we harbor about the smart city? In what ways does data play a part in urban policy-making? What role do citizens play in this process? What limits do they raise in terms of living together, social cohesion and the preservation of individual freedoms?…

Through these conferences, we hope to provide professionals working in the field of public mediation with content to help them in their mission of acculturation to the challenges of digital technology.

The program:

Session #1: Smart City: Make your own opinion (March 26, 2024. Muntpunt)
Session #2: Public spaces and surveillance: does urban air make you free? (April 25, 2024)
Session #3: Data to the people : urban data struggles (May 17, 2024)
Session #4: Smart city and Transparency: making AI visible in the city? (June 14,  2024)

Session details

Session #1: Smart City: Make your own opinion (March 26, 2024. Muntpunt)

How has Brussels become an area of data production over the years? Discover these realities on an exciting walk, guided by Fari, through downtown Brussels. Two special guests will take part in the walk: Tyler Reigeluth (ULB), author of l’Intelligence des villes, and researcher Audrey Lebas (Smart Institute Liège)(3). The walk will be followed at Muntpunt by two fascinating talks by Tyler Reigeluth and Audrey Lebas, where the notion of the smart city will be put into perspective and debated. The discussions will be moderated by Brussels Academy.

Capacity is limited to 40 participants, so reserve early

Session #2: Public spaces and surveillance: does urban air make you free? (April 25, 2024)

Explore the challenges of surveillance in the age of mass data collection. This event, organized by FARI – AI for the Common Good Institute – Brussels in collaboration with Brussels Academy, will examine the tension between the promise of freedom associated with urban space and the threats to our individual liberties posed by the rise of massive data collection and AI for surveillance systems.

Echoing the ideas of author Max Weber, for whom the city represents a place of emancipation and freedom, the contemporary debate highlights a fundamental dilemma. While the city has traditionally been seen as a stage for diversity, creativity and individual expression, modern surveillance devices challenge this perception. Their expansion raises essential questions about privacy, freedom of movement and state surveillance. Indeed, the growing implications of new surveillance technologies in the implementation of security policies raises important ethical and societal questions, which will be presented and debated during this session.

The debate will gather three researchers and specialists: Rosamunde Van Brakel, postdoctoral researcher at Fundamental Rights Centre and Crime and at Society Research Group (VUB), Corentin Debailleul, doctoral student in human geography at the Maison des Sciences Humaines (ULB), and Violette de Neef, data protection delegate at the City of Brussels.

Session #3: Data to the people : urban data struggles (May 17, 2024)

Registration : https://mycloud.ulb.be/index.php/apps/forms/s/QF7wKAijxtqPiY6yzBsSYzHG

In recent years, a number of citizens’ initiatives have been launched in Brussels and across Europe to generate data from sensors installed not by public authorities, but by citizens themselves. Although data collection devices are often not very visible, and we often pass by them without even noticing, the data they generate is increasingly decisive for political decision-making. Questioning the results produced, or bringing to light problems hitherto little studied via data, is becoming a real issue in political and civic debate. In Brussels, several air quality projects have been launched, with sensors installed in gardens, on balconies and on windowsills. In Barcelona, groups of citizens have taken action against noise pollution, and trained them selves in the use of sensors. Come and discover how the production, interpretation and visualization of data have become an essential tool in contemporary urban struggles!

The session will begin with a data collection workshop with BRAL. Then, Dirk Jacobs, Karim Douieb and BRAL will recount their experiences of urban struggles using data.

Session #4: Smart city and Transparency: making AI visible in the city? (June 27 2024)

For this fourth and final session of the Data&The City cycle, the Brussels Academy and FARI – AI for the Common Good Institute, will highlight transparency initiatives developed in different countries to make the structures of Smart Cities more visible and increase citizens’ confidence in them. A case in point? The DTPR initiative developed in France, in Angers and soon in Paris, makes it possible to scan QR codes in public spaces and access information on technological projects deployed on the territory. Citizens can find out which tools are being used, the purpose of the projects, the different types of data collected… Want to find out more? Sign up, get all the information you need, and join us for lunch on June 27!

Registration link : https://mycloud.ulb.be/index.php/apps/forms/s/rEHndgAoqjqqWARLwCSKA9E2