A data feminist approach to urban data practice: Tenant power through eviction data

Acknowledging the role of data in reproducing (and disrupting) existing power relationships, this article argues data feminism is a useful intervention in data practice for planners and others interested in engaging in data ethics evaluation of complex urban problems. Through critical organizational analyses of eviction-related projects in Atlanta, Georgia, and Richmond, Virginia, we illustrate the data feminism approach to reimagining eviction data as a tool for tenant empowerment. We find that why, how, for whom, and with whom we collect, present, and organize eviction data is both driven by and drives the narratives, policy, and practice around eviction. Shifting the power, process, and participants of eviction data creation can facilitate tenant organizing and a rebalancing of the landlord-tenant power and information dynamic. Such a reorientation of the purpose, creation, and usage of data could promote data justice across a variety of urban policy areas.