Synthetic Nights: Machine and Human Learning in 24-Hour Cities

Reia, Jess

Jess Reia

Jess Reia is an Assistant Professor of Data Science & Public Policy and a 2025-2027 Andrew Carnegie Fellow at the University of Virginia, where they co-lead the Digital Technology for Democracy Lab. They are also a Visiting Scholar at East China Normal University and a Research Associate at the Data & Society Research Institute. Reia works primarily on technology policy, human rights, and urban governance. A policymaker by training, they have collaborated with governments for over a decade and conducted research published in four languages.

Dossiers, no. 2, vol. 11September 7, 2026<September 9, 2026

Synthetic Nights: Machine and Human Learning in 24-Hour Cities

Jess Reia

If the night is barely seen, can it be understood by algorithms? Jess Reia argues that the opacities and refusals of nocturnal life expose the limits of machine learning, and makes the case for expanding what counts as data after dark.