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The Reconfiguration of (Public) Space through AI

Citizens, Society and Artificial Intelligence (CiSAI)

Around the world, authorities monitor citizen behavior in public spaces with AI-driven camera surveillance. These monitoring systems tend to form part of oppressive state policies towards citizens. However, the recordings also provide unique opportunities for social scientists to understand and explain real-life behavior, including ‘hidden’ behavior such as during criminal events, conflicts and violence.
people in the street with a computerframe around them

Central questions

  • How do spaces, their meaning, and use change when they become continuously monitored and controlled?
  • How do citizens perceive and react to such management of space?
  • What opportunities does AI hold for a more efficient and fair use of public space, including for example transportation infrastructure?
  • How do we use remote sensing to understand urban dynamics? And how do planners use big data to shape spatial interventions and what is its role in planning and decision-making processes? 
  • How can AI and public camera surveillance help social scientists to understand and explain crime, conflict, and violence better?
  • How can social scientists integrate AI and video analysis?
  • How can social scientists draw on AI and public camera surveillance without contributing to oppressive state policies?

Ongoing research

The use of AI in the future of mobility
Researchers: Anna Nikolaeva, Marco te Brömmelstroet.

Machine Learning for understanding urban dynamics
Researcher: Mendel Giezen

The use of AI to detect behavior in public space from public camera recordings during the Corona pandemic
Researchers: Cees Snoek, Marie Rosenkrantz Lindegaard, Benjamin van Rooij, Andreas Schuck

The use of AI to detect conflict behavior from public camera recordings
Researchers: Cees Snoek, Marie Rosenkrantz Lindegaard, Don Weenink

satellite maps of Amsterdam
Remote sensing reveals shrinking green space in Amsterdam

Aided by satellite images and remote-sensing technology, Mendel Giezen and colleagues revealed a decrease in the amount of green space in Amsterdam.

Read more about this research

More information?

Visit the overview page of our platform Citizens, Society and Artificial Intelligence (CiSAI).