“Life is really simple; but we insist on making it complicated” – Confucius
Seven theoretical columns
The exploration of mobility platforms over the world resulted in various ideas and reflections. But what was our starting point? We as social scientists had ideas about the world before we started our research. In this series of seven theoretical columns we reveal the most important aspects of our world. Reading these columns will make you understand the authors better. This facilitates us in sharing our new ideas that we will describe later, in our empirical columns.
The order of these theoretical columns is no coincidence. Column by column, we define some tricky concepts that are central in this handbook, but are so often used by so many scholars that their meanings may seem a bit ambiguous to most readers.
First we delve into the complexities of mobility data platform governance, especially from the perspective of governments. A central concept for this is ‘wicked problems’. While developing policies for smart mobility governments enter a complex field of actors. Per case the role of government may differ, i.e. leading in a hierarchy or facilitating in a market. Moreover, problems and solutions tend to be ‘wicked’: knowledge-finding, problem formulation and solution criteria all are subject of discussion among actors, because their legitimacy differs per perspective. This creates dynamic and long-lasting interactions among actors. Any neat representation that communicates order and control – i.e. the data chain – are worth a critical reflection.
The second column reveals our take on ‘governance’. Governance is about stakeholders, not so much about technology. It focuses on transactions between different stakeholders through mechanisms of market, networks and hierarchy. The mechanisms substantially differ from each other. Hierarchical transactions are fuelled by the authority of one actor, market transactions are fuelled by perceptions of supply and demand, and network transactions are fuelled by mutual dependencies. Although these mechanisms have clear distinct features, in real cases the mechanisms will be mixed, because of the complex, specific characteristics of the cases. In the third column we will apply these ideas to information platforms by defining ‘platform governance’.
The second tricky concept is ‘institutions’, which we will cover in the fourth column. Establishing and managing mobility platforms involve design choices. Designers are no neutral actors, but operate within a hierarchy, a market, a network or a mix. In other words, designers operate within a context wherein both technology and social interaction play an important role. They design rules that guide behaviour (institutions). At the same time, their own behaviour – i.e. their design choices – are also subject to institutions.
It is not just governments facing complexities. They take complexities with them as well. A first complexity – addressed in the fifth column – is that they are expected to safeguard interests on behalf of a collective. These ‘public values’ – such as safety, privacy, sustainability, quality of life, etc. – may conflict the goals of the platform, or even conflict with each other. A second source of government complexities – as addressed in the sixth column – is the ‘multi-layered’ structure of governments. There appears to be not a single government, but a variety of public institutions operating on multiple layers – including local, national and global players – also with sometimes conflicting interests.
There is more than problems and complexities, however. We finish the series of theoretical columns with capacities and all kinds of ‘policy instruments’ governments have. Governments are special actors, with public authority. They may use instruments that other actors lack. Altogether governments have an impressive toolkit, including laws, regulations, financial instruments and behavioural instruments. The latter are in vogue. Governments have means – i.e. budget, authority – to influence the behaviour of actors by communication. They may nudge actors to behave more in line with a public goal.