Creating Data Publics

Creating Data Publics for Governance explores projects from Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) where citizens interact with data through creative and cultural methods to explore understandings and relationships with place.  

Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada) and Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK)

Under the Knowledge Mobilization Scheme, “Synthesising research on envisioning governance systems that work”. 

As decision-making structures for local, regional and national governments increasingly prioritise data and evidence as resources for governance, a critical challenge facing democracies becomes the creation of public spaces in which these data can be considered and debated to enable equitable and effective governance systems.  

We frame this challenge as a question of creating data publics – publics that are not only constituted by self-interest or shared identities but forged through citizens’ creative participatory engagement with data.  

To address this challenge, our project examines how creative methods are being used in practice to bring such data publics into being.

We analyse examples in which artists, community organisers, and citizens engage data through creative, place-based processes, tracing when and how these methods are employed and how they shape collective forms of participation and decision-making. In doing so, we aim to better understand how creativity functions not only as a mode of expression but as a mechanism for democratic engagement with data. 

This project is a collaboration between researchers at Simon Fraser University (Canada) and University of Southampton (UK).

Explore the cases

Following a scoping review, 15 projects from Canada and 15 projects from the UK were identified for closer exploration.

These projects were selected at the meeting point of creative methods and citizen participation in place-based decision-making. This analysis was structured using Sabina Leonelli’s cycle of knowledge production (from the article ‘what distinguishes data from models?’).  

Keywords

Activity station Participatory methods Photography Pop-up event Public art

CAN 1 by STEPS Public Art

STEPS Public art strategy plan for Downtown Stratford, Ontario, Canada

CAN 2 by STEPS Public Art

I HeART Main Street

CAN 3 by STEPS Public Art

and ReDefine Arts

Accessible Art and Placemaking

CAN 4 by STEPS Public Art

Inspired Art Impact: A Toolkit for Mainstreet Cultural Tourism

CAN 5 by ReDefine Arts

The Countdown Public Art Project

CAN 6 by Greater Victoria

Placemaking Network

CAN 7

by Walk With Me

CAN 8 by Calgary Municipal

Land Corporation

Touch Traces project from Jack & Jean Leslie RiverWalk Murals

CAN 9 by Calgary Municipal

Land Corporation

Bridge project from Jack & Jean Leslie RiverWalk Murals

CAN 10 Calgary Municipal

Land Corporation

Werklund Centre Transformation (WTC)

CAN 11 Calgary Municipal

Land Corporation

Olympic Plaza Transformation (OPT)

CAN 12 Calgary Municipal

Land Corporation

Tomorrow’s Chinatown: Chinatown Cultural Plan

CAN 13 Led by Dr. Tara Mahoney

Creative Publics

CAN 14 by Deer Crossing The Art Farm

Copper Circle project 

CAN 15 by Calgary Arts Development

Northeast Mini Galleries Program: Building Community Pride Through Public Art

UK 1 by Creative Peninsula

The Saltmarsh Project

UK 2 by Whitworth Art Gallery

Age Friendly Programme

UK 3 by Castlefield Gallery

The Ageing in Place Micro-residency Project 

UK 4 by Nottingham Contemporary

First Waves

UK 5 by Nottingham Contemporary

Narrow Marsh Residents Group

UK 6 by Measuring Humanity

Art is Everywhere

UK 7 Led by Professor Nick Henry
(Coventry University)

City Change Through Culture: Securing the Place legacy of Coventry City of Culture 2021

UK 8 by The Glass-House

Community Led Design

Cross-pollination: Growing Cross-sector Design Collaboration in Placemaking

UK 9 by Design Innovation and Land Assets (DI&L) Network 

Design Innovation and Cultural Resonances (Resonance): Place-based Collaboration

UK 10 led by Professor Nicky Marsh (University of Southampton)

Feeling Towns: Place, Identity
and Local Governance

UK 11 Led by Professor Andrew Wilson (University of Bradford)

People, Heritage, and Place:
Using Heritage to Enhance Community and Well-being in Saltaire, Bradford

UK 12 Led by Dr. Elizabeth Craig-Atkins (University of Sheffield)

Roots and Futures: Scaling Up and Sustaining Co-produced, Place-based Heritage with Underserved Communities

UK 13

by Citizens in Power

UK 14 by Primary

Build Create Play – Contemporary Visual Arts Network England

UK 15

by Homebaked Community Land Trust

UK 16 by GREENGAGE

East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood
Pilot Project

Project Team

Creating Data Publics for Governance is a collaboration between researchers at Simon Fraser University (Canada) and University of Southampton (UK):