Data governance and regulation for a sustainable Berlin

The project “Data Governance and Regulation for a Sustainable Berlin” deals with the ecologically sustainable and public welfare-oriented design of the digital revolution in urban space. There is no doubt that digital transformation has the potential to make society and especially metropolises more environmentally friendly and more fair – digital solutions create new opportunities for participation and can help to conserve resources and distribute them more appropriately. At the same time, digital transformation is associated with considerable ecological and social risks, which we can already observe today – for example, environmentally damaging growth dynamics can be further intensified, and civil rights and democratic participation threaten to fall by the wayside in “surveillance capitalism” (S. Zuboff). In order to highlight the socio-ecological potential of digital transformation and to avoid misdirected developments, a data regulation oriented towards sustainability goals is necessary, which goes far beyond the previous focus on data protection. Which regulatory approaches are available to the city of Berlin and to which business models and products they could lead will be examined for the four areas “transport”, “infrastructure”, “regional economy” and “health”. The UfU focuses on the health sector, but also contributes its legal expertise to the project. In particular, the UfU will analyse whether and how digital transformation in the health sector in Berlin can be brought together with questions of digital participation and social and ecological aspects; and whether it is possible to establish data management systems that can serve Berlin’s sustainability and development goals.

The project is a sub-project of the research association Wissen.Wandel.Berlin in the Digital Transformation Cluster. Five Berlin institutes of transdisciplinary sustainability research, which are also part of the Ecological Research Network (Ecornet), have joined forces. Six research projects will be carried out jointly (initially until December 2021) in three clusters (Climate Change Social, Sustainable Economy, Digital Transformation), thus creating public spaces for knowledge exchange and joint learning. The UfU is also involved in the project “Heat turnaround in public non-residential buildings”. Further information on Ecornet and the research network can be found on their website.

The project Data Governance and Regulation for a Sustainable Berlin is funded by Öko-Institut, Ecologic Institute, IZT and UfU within the project “Wissen. Wandel. Berlin. – Transdisciplinary Research for a Social and Ecological Metropolis” of the research network Ecornet Berlin. It is carried out with the financial support of the Governing Mayor, Senate Chancellery – Science and Research Berlin.

Duration:
06/2020 – 12/2021

Cooperation Partners:
Öko-Institut, IZT, Ecologic Institut

Funded by:
The Governing Mayor of Berlin – Senate Chancellery Higher Education and Research

Contact:
Dr. Michael Zschiesche

 

More Information:

Other Ecornet projects: https://www.ufu.de/en/ecornet-berlin/

 

Ecornet:
https://www.ecornet.eu/

Ecornet Berlin:
https://www.ecornet.berlin/