The Routledge handbook of people and place in the 21st century city

that universities, governments, and private enterprises should collaborate on the delivery of urban informatics. However, academia mustn’t be a place for governments and businesses to seek out in order to gain evidence that reinforces certain agendas. Instead, academics must play the role of arbiter and question these relationships to ensure the research is in favour of people, the environment, and the future, and not just for governments and business elites. A healthy sense of caution is necessary toward research that claims that using data on human subjects will help governments and businesses to succeed, even if it insinuates that broader society advances as well. We must remind ourselves who benefits from “urban informatics” and how it might impact the public in different ways.