Digital civic engagement, open data, and the informal sector: a think piece

Kurzfassung

Digitalization and advances in information and communications technologies (ICT) are having a major impact on urban transport and the way people move around cities. However, this hardly relates to informal transport in the global South. Despite its importance and the fact that billions of people depend on it, insufficient efforts have been made by policymakers to improve informal transport services. In this think piece, we propose that this circumstance can be addressed on two counts through digital civic engagement and open data. In the digital age, civic engagement is no longer only associated with voluntary work at community level, but it is also very effective remotely. Digital civic engagement leverages social media to create awareness for in-situ concerns and provides a platform for local volunteers to connect with international experts to create people-centered solutions (e.g., mobile apps). Open data stimulates and facilitates digital civic engagement, which, in turn, can lead to the creation of more open data. Cities and local authorities should encourage and foster this virtuous cycle, and make transport data sets openly available. This can spur innovation and promote sustainable mobility behavior – with volunteers being powerful agents driving these efforts. Indeed, the case of the Trufi Association demonstrates that open data (e.g., in the form of volunteered geographic information) and the development of mobile apps in several developing cities have helped make informal transport more visible and transparent. The insights from the informal transport field can serve as an impetus for other sectors of the informal economy – such as retail, commerce, agriculture, manufacturing, and services – to promote digital civic engagement and open data to bring about positive change.