The ideological alignment of smart urbanism in Singapore: Critical reflections on a political paradox

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. 过去十年来，有众多文献指出智慧都​​市主义有潜力带来各种持久的改善。数字技术如何植入城市基础设施中，已经得到很好的记录；城市治理和管理的智能模式之效率广受赞誉。然而，最近这个话语被贴上了“霸权”的标签，并被指责发展出了一种关于智能技术的盲目观点——因未能批评其社会政治效应而盲目。本文以新加坡“智能国家”计划为例，论述了智慧都市主义的核心矛盾，并在此基础上探讨了意识形态与实践、效率与控制、准入与选择，以及智慧治理与智慧公民之间的紧张关系。本文也证明，这种紧张关系是如何通过“第四空间” ——共同创造的数字化城市文化空间，有助于扩展和传播社会和政治责任——（再）生产的。最后，本文提出这样的空间如何有可能不仅从根本上改变城市环境，还改变政府和公民在城市未来的设计中发挥的作用。