Sharing, use and modelisation of public data. Cycling and walking as case studies. – PUMDP

One condition for a more sustainable functioning of cities is a greater capacity to monitor and adapt the use of their resources and infrastructures. What is at stake is the continuous and dynamic adaptation of their capacities and occupancy rates and, to say it briefly, the optimal adequacy between demand and offer within the city. Information and, more precisely, data, is one of the raw materials leading to this control. It can be reached when data from different sources are crossed in order to obtain a vision as complete as possible of the whole system. This can for instance be observed with the multimodal information in transports.

However, data are not neutral. They can reveal information about individuals, about an environment, a process, etc. Furthermore, the one who has relevant information has a useful tool for acting. The emerging and growing movement of data crossing and sharing may thus bring forward new powers and counter-powers, new conflicts, new needs and new regulations.

Among these powers, the role of urban dwellers is at stake. As a process, the monitoring and management of cities' resources and infrastructures can be alienating for citizens. Indeed, such are the stakes of sustainable cities that individuals can loose their ability to choose. The risk is for them to just be observed and counted in order to make the city work in an efficient way. The sharing of data is an alternative which considers that individuals can play an active role in the development of the sustainable city, both thanks to well-informed decisions and active contributions to the creation of public services.

Yet, this alternative still has to be analysed and understood. The purpose of this research project hence is to identify the relevant conditions for a "win-win" sharing of data, where the systemic stakes and the different actors' motivations are taken into account.

Active modes - i.e. walking and cycling - are viewed as relevant and original case studies to investigate this issue. Indeed, with the great lack of physical infrastructures and urban services devoted to these modes, pedestrians and bike riders have a substantial need of informative data. While, on the one side, a whole range of innovative services can be designed thanks to the sharing of these data (maps, navigation assistant, availability of public bikes, air pollution, etc), one also has to consider the growing number of data provided by individuals during their trips. With the massive use of technological devices, such as mobile phones, people indeed leave digital traces of their presence.

The sharing and use of data, in order both to design new management tools and new public services raise several questions and most notably in terms of sociology of use. What are the expected effects of open data initiatives on individuals' practices? How to measure these effects? Answers to these questions are necessary for the design of new monitoring tools.

The project favours a territorial approach.

* The partners will hence be able to investigate the different data relevant to the case study which are available on pilot territories. A systemic analysis of the function and circulation of data will be proposed.
* Then, a sociological and prospective approach will be used to explore the relevant conditions for a "win-win" sharing of data within the perspective of the sustainable city.
* An experimental research will be conducted on this basis. It seeks to provide an innovative tool to simulate, analyse and represent biking trips in an urban environment. Evaluation methods of cycling and its environmental, economic and social impacts will be elaborated.

The different results of the research project will provide innovative tools for a better monitoring and adaptation of the use of urban infrastructures and resources.