15.10. REPAIR Scholarly Talk by Rob Kitchin
Welcome to the REPAIR Scholarly Talk series! We are pleased to host Professor Rob Kitchin (Maynooth University), who will deliver a talk titled:“A Genealogy of the Digitalisation of a Planning Data Ecosystem and Its Associated Data Mobilities and Data Frictions.” Join us on October 15 at 10:00 at the Main Building of the University of Helsinki, room U3039 (Unioninkatu 34, 3rd floor). Discussants will be announced soon.
A genealogy of the digitalisation of a planning data ecosystem and its associated data mobilities and data frictions
In this talk, Rob Kitchin will provide a genealogical analysis of the digitalisation of the development and control function of the Irish planning system and its associated data ecosystem over a 25-year period from 2000-2024, and also discuss and theorise its associated data mobilities. The aim is threefold. The first is to consider the digitalization of a planning data ecosystem as it transfers from a paper-based endeavour to one that is digitally mediated and the consequences of this transition. The second is to document how a data ecosystem emerges and evolves as a socio-technical assemblage over a substantive period of time to span several institutions as a suite of digital technologies are assembled across scales to undertake the day-to-day work of planning and development. The third is to detail the essential role of data mobilities in the functioning of the data ecosystem, the data frictions that exist, and the day-to-day work of repair and maintenance.
Rob Kitchin is a professor in the Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute and Department of Geography. His research examines the production of digital geographies and his present ERC-funded project (2022-27) is ‘Data Stories: Telling Stories About and With Planning and Property Data’. He is the (co)author or (co)editor of 37 academic books and (co)author of over 250 articles and book chapters, and is an editor of Dialogues on Digital Society. He is a recipient of the Royal Irish Academy’s Gold Medal for the Social Sciences.