Data science faculty helps shape new policy benchmarks to guide digitization in cities

Cities across the globe are grappling with how to manage rapidly evolving technological changes while maintaining economic, environmental, and social sustainability.

A new policy framework, which assistant professor Jess Reia of the University of Virginia’s School of Data Science helped create, offers cities a new approach to more effectively address the many issues that are arising from society’s ongoing digital transformation. 

The Dynamic Policy Maturity Benchmark Model is the product of the United for Smart Sustainable Cities initiative, which was led by the International Telecommunication Union and an assortment of United Nations groups. The model was based on the work of researchers from around the world, including Reia. 

A key principle underpinning the model is that policies should continuously evolve to ensure they remain relevant and account for the changing needs of people and the environment.

To illustrate how it would work, the framework’s creators lay out a case study where a city introduced artificial intelligence into its smart city services. 

Using the Dynamic Policy Benchmark Model to evaluate the scenario, several negative impacts from the proposed use of AI are identified, and a process is triggered to evaluate if existing policies can mitigate these impacts. This approach allows the voices of those who would potentially be harmed by the introduction of AI to help influence the policymaking process. 

Reia’s research has long focused on issues related to data justice, urban governance, and transnational technology policy. 

Recently, the National Science Foundation funded a project that Reia and Mar Hicks, an associate professor of data science at UVA, are collaborating on that will explore how large data centers, newly built by AI companies, are affecting the physical environment and local communities. 

You can read more about the just-published policy benchmarks for city digital transformations here.