Urban informatics for social good: definitions, tensions, and challenges

The vast amount of data generated from diverse sources provides both an opportunity and a challenge to urban policymakers and decision-makers. The application of data science and analytics to parse the detailed data that city agencies continually collect offers the opportunity to identify new areas for operational efficiencies, enhanced service delivery, and better informed policy design and implementation. This exploratory paper articulates the theoretical, practical, and pedagogical foundations for the fields of urban informatics and civic analytics and the challenges and tensions to effectively applying computational approaches to urban management, policy, and planning. It describes the state of the field, defines the need for computational methods in cities, and presents the tensions in creating data-driven approaches that both acknowledge and capitalize on shifting modes of learning, working, and decision-making. The paper concludes with a discussion of connecting urban theory to informatics practice.1