| Project Detail |
Unveiling the intersection of smart cities and authoritarian control
What happens when futuristic visions of data-driven smart cities are combined with the prospect of seamless smart control? Supported by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme, the e-Authopia project aims to shed light on the emergence of authoritarian smart cities. Through case studies in Turkey, Thailand, and Gabon, it delves into how global smart city trends intersect with local policymaking. By analysing sociotechnical imaginaries and policy processes, e-Authopia aims to unveil how these cities shape urban futures using authoritarian techniques. This research pioneers a vital discourse on the implications of smart technology in governance, challenging conventional narratives of smart city development.
The smart city fulfils a utopian picture of a future where data-driven, citizen-centred, and just cities thrive. What if this vision of the smart city is combined with the prospect of smart control? What about the sociotechnical imaginaries of authoritarian smart cities? Research on smart cities in authoritarian regimes, for example, in both Saudi Arabia and China, has rarely been critical and has almost never discussed this urban form as authoritarian or surveillant. Even when calls for a comparative global agenda have been issued, authoritarianism has not been a significant component. E-Authopia explores the formation of authoritarian smart cities through the interplay between global smart city trends and domestic policymaking in authoritarian contexts. Through three instrumental case studies of authoritarian smart cities in Turkey, Thailand, and Gabon, I will investigate how the smart city idea is appropriated and localised, how it is positioned within a political system, and how it is translated into governance initiatives. I use semiotic and discursive analysis to study the authoritarian sociotechnical imaginaries of desirable urban futures at the symbolic and language level. Additionally, policy process tracing will be conducted through global pathways of influence and multiple streams framework to illustrate how these imaginaries and visions are localised, concretised, and translated to agenda-setting in policy adoption and development. |
