Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DATASTORIES (Data Stories: Producing stories about and with property and planning data)
Reporting period: 2022-08-01 to 2025-01-31
The Data Stories project critically assess the underlying evidence base for planning and property activity.
Planning and property data are a key to how cities are understood and managed. They inform government policy, shape public perception, and guide billions of euros of investment relating to land use and development, public and private housing, homelessness, commercial real estate, and infrastructure. Little attention has been paid to such data beyond some technical considerations related to data access, coverage, quality and interoperability, with an absence of more critical analyses of the social and political nature of data production and use. The Data Stories project addresses this lacuna by examining in detail the nature and operation of planning and property data ecosystems, and their associated data politics and data power and their effects, for a single city – Dublin, Ireland – examining how state, business, civil society and academic actors produce, manage and use planning and property data. To undertake the research, the project team are using traditional social science methods, as well as using arts-based methods in collaboration with seven professional artists.
The aims of the project are two-fold: to produce informative stories about property and planning data; and to produce a set of data stories about property and planning. There are three primary objectives, with aligned research questions.
1. To produce insightful analysis about the production, management and circulation of planning and property data.
• how are decisions made regarding what data to generate and how, and what remains unmeasured and why?
• What are the politics and praxes shaping the data lifecycle?
• What is the constitution of data ecosystems and how do they work in practice?
2. To understand how planning and property data are fashioned into evidence and used to inform debates and decisions.
• What are the mechanisms through which data are translated into information and knowledge?
• How are data used to tell evidential stories about planning and property?
• How do data shape operational practices and policy decisions?
3. To assess the efficacy of a data stories approach using arts-based methods for conducting Critical Data Studies and for understanding planning and property.
• What are the pros and cons of using arts-based methods?
• Do such methods, when used with stakeholders, lead to critical reflection and changes in approach and practices?
Planning and property data are a key to how cities are understood and managed. They inform government policy, shape public perception, and guide billions of euros of investment relating to land use and development, public and private housing, homelessness, commercial real estate, and infrastructure. Little attention has been paid to such data beyond some technical considerations related to data access, coverage, quality and interoperability, with an absence of more critical analyses of the social and political nature of data production and use. The Data Stories project addresses this lacuna by examining in detail the nature and operation of planning and property data ecosystems, and their associated data politics and data power and their effects, for a single city – Dublin, Ireland – examining how state, business, civil society and academic actors produce, manage and use planning and property data. To undertake the research, the project team are using traditional social science methods, as well as using arts-based methods in collaboration with seven professional artists.
The aims of the project are two-fold: to produce informative stories about property and planning data; and to produce a set of data stories about property and planning. There are three primary objectives, with aligned research questions.
1. To produce insightful analysis about the production, management and circulation of planning and property data.
• how are decisions made regarding what data to generate and how, and what remains unmeasured and why?
• What are the politics and praxes shaping the data lifecycle?
• What is the constitution of data ecosystems and how do they work in practice?
2. To understand how planning and property data are fashioned into evidence and used to inform debates and decisions.
• What are the mechanisms through which data are translated into information and knowledge?
• How are data used to tell evidential stories about planning and property?
• How do data shape operational practices and policy decisions?
3. To assess the efficacy of a data stories approach using arts-based methods for conducting Critical Data Studies and for understanding planning and property.
• What are the pros and cons of using arts-based methods?
• Do such methods, when used with stakeholders, lead to critical reflection and changes in approach and practices?
The programme of research for the project has been divided into two phases.
Phase 1 of the project has sought to examine forensically what data are generated, how they are processed, shared, and governed, identify any gaps, and document data-related issues. The phase consisted of four primary tasks.
(1) Mapping the entire set of data ecosystems for property and planning across state, business, civil society and academia sectors in Dublin, Ireland.
(2) Undertaking data audits for a number of organisations to identify their data holdings relating to planning and property.
(3) Conducting interviews with key stakeholders regarding their data work and the identification of data-related issues.
(4) Constructing an open knowledge hub for sharing information on publications and data sets.
140 organisations that produce planning and property data were identified and contacted. 124 recorded interviews were undertaken with 134 individuals (38 state; 35 business; 22 civil society; 29 academic) from 78 organisations. An additional 45 informal conversations were held with 13 additional stakeholders. 38 data audits were performed (16 state; 18 business, 4 civil society).
Phase 2 of the project consists of undertaking 12 year-long case studies to explore issues in more depth. Each case study is conducted using social science (interviews, observation) and arts-based methods (art and fiction practices), and is undertaken in collaboration with a professional artist and stakeholder organisations. A number of workshops have been held in relation to each case study. Six case studies were conducted in Year 2:
(1) The data ecosystem for the development and control function of planning, working with 6 state holders (6 local authorities, 6 state agencies)
(2) A planning data intermediary, working with a data broker company.
(3) The Housing Need Demand Assessment, working with several state agencies and companies.
(4) A civic housing organisation that campaigns on housing issues.
(5) A civic planning organisations that campaigns on planning and architecture issues.
(6) Data narratives that examines how a number of organisations produce evidential stories.
The focus of the second set of six case studies have been identified. In addition, the project team have been developing data stories relating to planning and property using a 3D virtual model and a large 3D printed model of the city.
Phase 1 of the project has sought to examine forensically what data are generated, how they are processed, shared, and governed, identify any gaps, and document data-related issues. The phase consisted of four primary tasks.
(1) Mapping the entire set of data ecosystems for property and planning across state, business, civil society and academia sectors in Dublin, Ireland.
(2) Undertaking data audits for a number of organisations to identify their data holdings relating to planning and property.
(3) Conducting interviews with key stakeholders regarding their data work and the identification of data-related issues.
(4) Constructing an open knowledge hub for sharing information on publications and data sets.
140 organisations that produce planning and property data were identified and contacted. 124 recorded interviews were undertaken with 134 individuals (38 state; 35 business; 22 civil society; 29 academic) from 78 organisations. An additional 45 informal conversations were held with 13 additional stakeholders. 38 data audits were performed (16 state; 18 business, 4 civil society).
Phase 2 of the project consists of undertaking 12 year-long case studies to explore issues in more depth. Each case study is conducted using social science (interviews, observation) and arts-based methods (art and fiction practices), and is undertaken in collaboration with a professional artist and stakeholder organisations. A number of workshops have been held in relation to each case study. Six case studies were conducted in Year 2:
(1) The data ecosystem for the development and control function of planning, working with 6 state holders (6 local authorities, 6 state agencies)
(2) A planning data intermediary, working with a data broker company.
(3) The Housing Need Demand Assessment, working with several state agencies and companies.
(4) A civic housing organisation that campaigns on housing issues.
(5) A civic planning organisations that campaigns on planning and architecture issues.
(6) Data narratives that examines how a number of organisations produce evidential stories.
The focus of the second set of six case studies have been identified. In addition, the project team have been developing data stories relating to planning and property using a 3D virtual model and a large 3D printed model of the city.
The Data Stories project will produce four significant conceptual and methodological advances:
(1) Producing new conceptual and practical knowledge about the evidence-base for planning and property sectors, integrating insights from Human Geography, Planning, Housing Studies and Critical Data Studies.
(2) Advancing critical insight into the socio-technical make-up and operations of data ecosystems and the nature and effects of data politics and data power, and contributing to the conceptual development of Critical Data Studies as a field through the extension or creation of other data-related concepts.
(3) Developing novel art-based methods with applicability across fields and assessing their efficacy in producing new knowledge and reshaping stakeholder practices.
(4) Extending the concept of data stories and the practices for producing them, and assessing their utility with respect to different audiences.
These advances will make three ground-breaking impacts possible:
(1) Conceptual: highlighting the need for a critical (not just technical) assessment of property and planning data, transforming how they are viewed, treated and used, and in turn reshaping research epistemology.
(2) Applied: transforming the data processes and practices of key stakeholders by fostering a reflexive and responsive approach to data politics and data power. The initial research undertaken has already informed and influenced a proposed major restructuring of the planning development and control data ecosystem nationally, and has contributed to other debates concerning the production of planning and property data and official statistics.
(3) Methodological: demonstrating the validity and utility of arts-based methods for examining data-related issues and for making sense of planning and property.
(1) Producing new conceptual and practical knowledge about the evidence-base for planning and property sectors, integrating insights from Human Geography, Planning, Housing Studies and Critical Data Studies.
(2) Advancing critical insight into the socio-technical make-up and operations of data ecosystems and the nature and effects of data politics and data power, and contributing to the conceptual development of Critical Data Studies as a field through the extension or creation of other data-related concepts.
(3) Developing novel art-based methods with applicability across fields and assessing their efficacy in producing new knowledge and reshaping stakeholder practices.
(4) Extending the concept of data stories and the practices for producing them, and assessing their utility with respect to different audiences.
These advances will make three ground-breaking impacts possible:
(1) Conceptual: highlighting the need for a critical (not just technical) assessment of property and planning data, transforming how they are viewed, treated and used, and in turn reshaping research epistemology.
(2) Applied: transforming the data processes and practices of key stakeholders by fostering a reflexive and responsive approach to data politics and data power. The initial research undertaken has already informed and influenced a proposed major restructuring of the planning development and control data ecosystem nationally, and has contributed to other debates concerning the production of planning and property data and official statistics.
(3) Methodological: demonstrating the validity and utility of arts-based methods for examining data-related issues and for making sense of planning and property.