Create your own Datawalk!

A Datawalk is a guided walk with a focus on ‘data’. 

The Datawalk method can be used for several purposes. The Knowledge Centre Data & Society developed this manual and card set to make the approach better known and introduce more people to the concept of Datawalks. This allows interested parties to design, organise and supervise a Datawalk themselves..

This manual is aimed at anyone who wishes to develop a Datawalk in a ‘smart’ city or municipality, such as:

• employees of (city) services focused on participation,
• project managers of smart cities,
• ‘data protection officers’ (DPOs) of the city or municipality,
• civil society organisations seeking hands-on learning about data collection in the city.

The tool consists of a manual, a card set and a template to prepare your Datawalk.

The manual is structured as follows: 

• In the first part we explore what a Datawalk is and what you can use it for.
• In the second part we go through the steps you can use to develop a Datawalk yourself.
• In the third part we give you tips on how to organise the Datawalk effectively.
• In the fourth part we discuss a number of tools you can use to create a Datawalk.
• In parts five and six, you will find references, more info and the colophon.

This manual includes a set of data source-cards for the Datawalks. You can use this overview when preparing for your Datawalk or during the Datawalk itself to explain or illustrate a service (if it is not available in the city, for example).

Lastly, you can also download a template which can help you prepare your Datawalk in more detail. What route will you take, and what will you explain at each stop?

This manual is a publication of the Knowledge Centre Data & Society and the research group imec-SMIT, VUB. The following persons contributed to the development of this manual: Pieter Duysburgh, Michiel Vaes, Jonas Breuer, Ine van Zeeland and Jonne van Belle.
The design of the manual and the data sources were created by Toast Confituur Studio.

We would like to thank the smart city departments of the cities of Leuven and Brussels (CIBG) for their efforts in developing the Datawalks methodology.

The SPECTRE project is financed by FWO. Research Foundation – Flanders – FWO reference number S006318N.

This manual is available under a CC BY 4.0 licence and may therefore be shared and edited without seeking our permission, as long as you credit us as the source or author and indicate whether any modifications have been made.