The remaking of the smart city in the Covid 19 pandemic: a comparative study of Seoul, Singapore and Taipei

Keywords: Covid 19, smart city, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Smart city has been at the center of everyday urban living since the Covid-19 pandemic started. From contact tracing, quarantine compliance, and securing food and supplies during isolation, to telehealth care, public health information, and mobility availability during lockdowns, all involve features of the smart city. Drawing from a three-year comparative research project examining smart city initiatives in Seoul, Singapore, and Taipei, we argue that the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly transformed the regime of the smart city, especially in Asia under the context of the developmental state. The pandemic has dubbed the smart city an unprecedented level of legitimacy to expand its functions, making it hyper-smart and intervening in all aspects of people’s life. The developmental state also uses the smart city as a novel means to control its citizens, which strengthens the developmental state’s technocratic nature and redefines state territorialities. Under the hyper-smart smart city and the state that over-reaches in its smartness, the smart city regime cultivates new smart subjects – the compliant, docile citizens – and reshapes our understanding of citizenship in the post-Covid era.