The scan bike came to your street
Probes & Prototypes
Since the autumn of 2023, we followed a citizens panel getting engaged with the municipality’s development of a new smart city technology: the scan bike. In a series of sessions, we discussed ethics around implementing such technology and brainstormed on topics like privacy, blurring algorithms and other forms of data minimalization.
Throughout these sessions, we saw public servants and citizens grow towards each other: they started using the same language, and everyone felt increasingly comfortable discussing the technical back-end systems. Together we decided it was time to involve a wider group of ‘fresh perspectives’, and test different designs within the context the scan bike would be used.
Testing different designs
What do people see when the scan bike cycles by? How do you communicate its functions, and how do you leave enough space for feedback? In a workshop with the project team, the citizens panels and our researchers, we together designed three versions of the bike.
This summer, we took the bike out for a test round. We selected three streets, where we invited residents to come outside and observe the bike, after which we interviewed them. Moving between these streets, we cycled and observed the first reactions. The experiment is currently being reviewed, and the findings will be translated into design recommendations for the municipality’s new bike.