On November 18th, Ellen van Bueren (TU Delft) gave an introduction on ‘The role of big data in creating urban sustainability' at a dinner event on ‘Big Data: Opportunities and Threats’, organised by the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus universities as part of the 6th European Innovation Summit at the European Parliament.
The dinner was hosted by European Parliament member Sean Kelly. (Vice)-mayors from The Hague, Delft and Leiden and European Parliament member Lambert van Nistelrooij exchanged urban big data visions and experiences with the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus researchers and board members. The potential of big data was recognised. However, the added value and usability of big data for urban decisions and urban decision-makers is not straightforward and touches upon issues as the value laden character of data, ownership, privacy, accessibility and trust, but also on municipal organisational requirements and opportunities to combine traditional urban planning data with new ones.
The discussion on urban sustainability was moderated by Jan van Dalen (Rotterdam School of Management). Participants decided to plan a follow-up meeting to continue the debate.