Last Tuesday, the Civic Interaction Design research group presented the handbook ‘Residents-in-the-loop: deciding together about AI in the city’ during a well-attended closing event at Pakhuis de Zwijger. With this publication, the research group concludes the four-year research project Human Values for Smarter Cities.
The evening focused on public values, resident participation, and the use of AI and smart technology in the city. The programme included a keynote by Marc Steen, a presentation by researchers Mike de Kreek and Tessa Steenkamp, three in-depth panel discussions, and the festive presentation of the first copy to Ger Baron, CTO of the City of Amsterdam.
The handbook brings together insights from four years of research into how governments can involve residents in conversations and decisions about AI, sensors, cameras, and other technologies in public space. The publication offers practical guidance for policymakers, designers, researchers, and other professionals who want to work on technology that is not only efficient, but also does justice to public values such as privacy, transparency, agency, and democratic oversight.
An important insight from the research is that participation cannot be neatly planned. Roles shift, questions change, and residents move between advising, prioritising, questioning, challenging, and co-shaping. That is precisely why it is important to carefully consider how participation is organised, how residents’ input is secured, and how public concerns are taken seriously throughout the process.
As Mike de Kreek put it during the presentation: “We may have accidentally turned residents into consultants. How do you make sure that people in a citizens’ panel remain residents?”
The project also showed the value of unsolicited participation: moments when residents do not simply respond to an invitation, but set the terms of the conversation themselves. This can create friction, but it is often exactly where an important public conversation begins. Tessa Steenkamp: “The design of your technology should invite public involvement. Whether invited or unsolicited. Not opaque, hidden away somewhere.”
With ‘Residents-in-the-loop’, Civic Interaction Design invites governments, designers, and other stakeholders to continue the conversation about AI, public values, and resident participation in the city.
Download the handbook ‘Bewoners-in-the-loop, samen beslissen over AI in de stad’