Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

submittedVersion

Publication Date

11-2023

Abstract

This article explores the role of the state in driving the platformisation of industry, and in doing so offers a counterpoint to scholarship that focusses on the exploitative effects of private sector-led platformisation. That scholarship views platformisation as the latest incarnation of neoliberal urbanism, with the profit-maximising tendencies of the private sector driving the proliferation of platforms throughout everyday life. Notwith- standing, there remains a need to consider alternative models of platformisation. Drawing on 31 interviews with architects of Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative, we consider the state-led platformisation of financial services. We argue that state-led platformisation can open up marketplaces to new forms of innovation, customer value creation, and competition through the creation of data ecosystems that are built on openness, trust and trans- parency. This flattens the distinctions between regulator and regulated, and between competitor and collabo- rator, and foregrounds the role of platforms in driving the transformation of industry.

Keywords

Platform urbanism, State-led platformisation, Financial services, Smart cities, Singapore

Discipline

Asian Studies | Science and Technology Policy | Technology and Innovation | Urban Studies and Planning

Research Areas

Humanities

Publication

Geoforum

Volume

146

First Page

1

Last Page

9

ISSN

0016-7185

Identifier

10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103849

Publisher

Elsevier: 24 months

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103849

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