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Short Abstract

Urban ReLeaf shows how friction in citizen science—around ethics, data practices, and cross-sector collaboration—can drive more inclusive, adaptive, and context-sensitive approaches to urban monitoring and planning.

Abstract

Urban ReLeaf is a multi-city and multi-sector collaboration aimed at integrating citizen-generated data into urban policy and planning processes, with a strong focus on inclusivity, ethics, and institutional co-production. In our work across six diverse European cities, we also encounter friction—between institutional expectations and citizen priorities, between data governance requirements and the need for open, inclusive participation. These frictions expose tensions around technology readiness, knowledge legitimacy, or the ethics of collecting sensitive socio-demographic data to assess inclusivity. Rather than obstacles, these tensions act as catalysts for experimentation in designing operational data ecosystems, fostering dialogue between institutional and community knowledge systems, and redefining citizens as collaborators rather than data gatherers only. At this roundtable, we intend share case-specific reflections on how navigating friction in Urban ReLeaf has surfaced ethical dilemmas (e.g., consent and transparency), reshaped institutional expectations, and revealed gaps in cross-sector understanding. We are particularly interested in exploring how friction around data ethics, perceived credibility, authority, information value, and institutional rigidity can be leveraged to support more reflexive and equitable project design. Urban ReLeaf’s experience shows that acknowledging and addressing these tensions head-on can create space for learning on how to create more robust and embedded citizen science.