UNITAC to Host "Urban Tech for Equity" Conference
The United Nations Innovation Technology Accelerator for Cities (UNITAC) Hamburg is hosting a hybrid conference to bring academic institutions and practitioners together to discuss how data-driven urban technologies can reduce social inequality.
UNITAC focuses on the question of how residents from marginalized communities, often in informal settlements, engage with technology, reflecting on the ambivalence between using "tech for good" and knowing that the same technology can create oppression and surveillance.
The “Urban Tech for Equity” conference will take place in the context of the resolution "International Guidelines on People-Centered Smart Cities", developed by UN-Habitat upon request from the Member States in June 2023, at the Habitat Assembly of the United Nations.
The conference will focus primarily on the first key consideration of the International Guidelines resolution: "Ensuring the equitable involvement and values of people, including women and girls, children and youth, persons with disabilities, older persons and persons in vulnerable situations, and ensuring that digital and other new technologies help reduce spatial, economic, social and digital inequalities, overcoming economic and social development challenges and support respect for human rights for inclusive cities."
The main emphasis of the conference will be on addressing technological challenges faced by communities due to their geographical placement and helping develop solutions that can reduce spatial inequalities.
The interface between society and technology will be addressed under the following four action points: collaborating, representing, implementing and maintaining digital data-based projects that engage with vulnerable groups.
Click here to learn more about the conference, including guest speakers.
For comments or questions about the conference, email Livia Schaeffer at: livia.schaeffernonose@un.org.
About UNITAC
UNITAC is a partnership between UN-Habitat, the United Nations Office of Information and Communications Technology and HafenCity University - Hamburg. With the associated research unit of the City Science Lab at HafenCity University Hamburg, UNITAC develops urban technologies and software in the field of citizen participation, interactive mapping, image detection, urban scenario-building, data storytelling and co-creation with virtual or augmented reality applications.