In March 2021, France Urbaine’s “Digital and Innovation” commission submitted to the Secretary of State for Digital Affairs, Cedric O, the Manifesto “ For Responsible Digital Territories”, drawn up jointly with the Assembly of French Communities (AdCF) and Les Interconnectés. It contains nine commitments that need to be addressed in an operational way. For this reason, two working groups have been launched: one on artificial intelligence, the other on citizen participation in digital policies.

Chaired by Johanna Rolland, Mayor of Nantes and President of Nantes Métropole, France urbaine is an association of metropolises, urban communities, agglomeration communities and large cities. It embodies urban diversity, promotes the alliance of territories and informs public decision-making on the main issues concerning urban territories and decentralization. With the Assembly of French Communities, it created in 2009 the Interconnectés network, whose mission is to support the digital transformation of local authorities.

Manifesto “For responsible digital territories

Aware of the importance of local action to meet the challenges posed by the widespread use of digital technology, the local authorities united in the digital commission common to the Assembly of French Communities (AdCF), France urbaine and Les Interconnectés are committed. They affirm their desire to build and support an ambitious, socially and ecologically sustainable digital transformation with local stakeholders.

This manifesto is structured around three axes: equality, environmental commitment and the project of an intelligent and sustainable territory. It includes nine commitments and invites local authorities to adopt sustainable digital technology as a common model for their digital strategies. Two working groups have therefore been launched: one on artificial intelligence, the other on citizen participation in digital policies.

An AI Library

France Urbaine believes that ” In a context of profusion of data and associated abuses, public authorities have a responsibility to regulate and frame their uses, as well as to identify and anticipate the field of possibilities that could be opened up by the use of data.”

The “Artificial Intelligence” working group, led by Franckie Trichet, aims to:

• collect experiences of public artificial intelligence (AI) approaches to popularize and develop AI users in local authorities through concrete examples, such as the implementation of an “AI library”;
• Identify themes of mutualization or challenges generating collaborative work between local authorities and the State (Lab IA Etalab, Lab INSEE…) to create “commonalities”, such as the review of regular or rare events, the detection of anomalies, the recognition and extraction of text from images or the classification of shapes on aerial images;
• to propose conditions of success and commitments in terms of ethical and responsible use of AI, based on the various experiments carried out in the territories, but also on existing or ongoing work (ALTAI, FING, Montreal Declaration on AI, Ekitia approach, etc.)

Céline Colucci, general delegate of the Interconnected association, explained during the presentation of the working group dedicated to AI:

“We are not working on artificial intelligence in the broad sense but on AI at the service of territories. We already had a common reflection on data of territorial interest. And this reflection naturally leads to questions of artificial intelligence. Of course, respect for personal data is mandatory, but once this is established, how can territories take hold of AI to improve city services, especially environmental ones?”

A reflection on digital policy and citizen participation

Another sub-committee, led by Pierre Jannin, city councilor for the city of Rennes in charge of digital, “is looking at the formats and initiatives for citizen participation that could allow for an integrated and successful co-construction of digital policies, especially those dedicated to digital inclusion, data, digital land use planning, etc.”

Its objectives, in addition to raising awareness and equipping people who are far from digital, are:

• To deepen and document the implementation of the participation component of the Manifesto for Responsible Digital Territories;
• To question the stakes of a dynamic that favors the co-construction of the digital project of the territory with the citizens/local actors, in connection with the stakes of digital mediation, data, digital planning of the territory, etc. ;
• Identify the initiatives already initiated or implemented in the territories (obstacles and assets of the local level).

Translated from France Urbaine et les Interconnectés lancent deux groupes de travail, dont un dédié à l’IA