Privacy policy: Closer Cities case submit form

1.    What do we collect, and how do we collect it?
On closercities.org, the Closer Cities research platform, we collect information on urban projects, shared by urban professionals, via the case submit form. Through this form, we collect information on the project, as well as name and e-mail address of the person submitting the case. The project information will be published on our website, and will be publicly accessible. We do not publish or share names and e-mail addresses directly, although questions about the project in question may be forwarded to said e-mail address via a contact form. In addition, we make use of an API tool to help determine the shareability of a case with regard to its location.

2.    Why do we collect (personal) data, and how will we use it?
We collect the data for research purposes and education purposes. The platform, as well as functioning as a searchable collection of cases worldwide, serves as a tool for researching the shareability of urban knowledge, particularly in connection to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By providing insights into a case’s set-up and execution (which we consider non-personal data in this context), we aim to chart and examine indicators for sharing urban knowledge. The personal data that we collect (name and e-mail address) enable affiliated Closer Cities researchers to contact project liaisons for relevant follow-up research questions. For more data-driven research purposes, in which we compare the submitted cases, personal data will be anonymized or pseudonymized. We do not share contact details or other personal information with third parties.

3.    How long will we keep your data?
The Closer Cities project runs in accordance with the UN Sustainable Goals and will stay online until at least 31 December 2030. We intend to continue the analysis of project data after this deadline. Data may therefore be retained until 31 December 2035. These conditions may change during the runtime of the platform and forthcoming research. If the latter is indeed the case, we will contact project liaisons (i.e. the persons responsible for submitting the cases) to ask their approval for extended data storage.

4.    How we secure the data
In collecting the data, we use an online form that is secured and maintained in-house by the platform’s affiliated web development team. In exporting the data, we anonymize or pseudonymize any personal data that is not purpose-bound for quantitative research. We only share data with university researchers, who will have to agree to and abide by specific rules for academic data analysis, in accordance with Article 89 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Likewise, in storing the data, we will make use of a GDPR-compliant secured server.  

5.    Rights of those submitting a case for the Closer Cities research project
Those submitting a project have the right to: 

  • access, view, and edit their submitted project information upon request and in a timely manner;
  • be forgotten, in which case we will delete their submission from the platform and remove the submitted information from our database;
  • opt out of receiving messages from platform visitors, after initially opting in to receiving said messages. 

6.    Who to contact regarding the data privacy policy

If you have any questions about our privacy policy, you can contact the Closer Cities research team at info@closercities.org