Generative AI and the Urban AI Policy Challenges Ahead: Trustworthy for Whom?

This Special Issue of Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy addresses the accelerating convergence between Generative AI (GenAI), Urban AI, and public governance. As algorithmic systems are deployed across domains such as transport, welfare, housing, education, and security, cities bec...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Calzada Mugica, Igor
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad del País Vasco
Repositorio:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/76245
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/76245
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:GenAI
urban AI
trustworthy AI
smart cities
innovation systems and policies
algorithmic governance
digital inclusion
applied economics
public policy
epistemic authority
Descripción
Sumario:This Special Issue of Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy addresses the accelerating convergence between Generative AI (GenAI), Urban AI, and public governance. As algorithmic systems are deployed across domains such as transport, welfare, housing, education, and security, cities become both laboratories of innovation and battlegrounds of democratic legitimacy. Trustworthy AI has emerged as a policy imperative—but the question remains: trustworthy for whom? Rather than treating trust as a static feature of technical systems, this Special Issue reframes it as a relational, contested, and institutionally mediated concept—fundamental to the legitimacy of public action in the digital age. Contributions are encouraged that explore GenAI not only as a technological advance, but as a governance challenge that reconfigures discretion, authority, and the social contract between citizens and institutions. Inspired by Richard R. Nelson’s enduring metaphor of “The Moon and the Ghetto”—which captures the asymmetries between technological sophistication and social equity—this Special Issue invites a renewed interrogation of how AI policy can bridge systemic inequalities rather than entrench them. Urban governance frameworks must move beyond techno-solutionism to embed pluralism, accountability, and public value at the core of GenAI deployments. Scholars, policymakers, and practitioners are invited to submit empirical, theoretical, and policy-oriented contributions that critically examine how Urban AI can be governed with legitimacy, reflexivity, and justice.