Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

1-2018

Abstract

Over the past decade, much has been written about the potential of smart urbanism to bring about various and lasting forms of betterment. The embedding of digital technologies within urban infrastructures has been well documented, and the efficiencies of smart models of urban governance and management have been lauded. More recently, however, the discourse has been labelled ‘hegemonic’, and accused of developing a view of smart technology that is blinkered by its failure to critique its socio-political effects. By focusing on the case of Singapore’s ‘Smart Nation’ initiative, this paper embraces the paradoxes at the heart of smart urbanism and, in doing so, interrogates the tension between ideology and praxis, efficiency and control, access and choice, and smart governance and smart citizenship. It also demonstrates how such tensions are (re)produced through ‘fourthspace’ – the digitally enabled spaces of urbanism that are co-created, and that contribute to an expansion and diffusion of social and political responsibility. It ends by suggesting how such spaces have the potential to radically transform not just the urban environment, but also the role of government and citizens in designing urban futures.

Keywords

governance, Singapore, smart nation, smart urbanism, urban futures, urban infrastructures

Discipline

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

Research Areas

Humanities

Publication

Urban Studies

Volume

55

Issue

4

First Page

679

Last Page

701

ISSN

0042-0980

Identifier

10.1177/0042098017746528

Publisher

SAGE Publications (UK and US)

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098017746528

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