Twentieth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge, and Society

Abstract

Trends in urban development have centred on the use of data and digital infrastructures in the form of Smart Cities to increase quality of life and manage city space more efficiently. However, there has been little investigation into how the narratives surrounding the addition of digital space to the city impact inhabitants’ ability to connect. Connection to place supports belonging, and connection to others is important for social functioning, both important aspects of community within the city. Therefore, this study seeks to understand how approaching ‘smart’ as a discursive assemblage embedded within its history and context can shed new light on the impact of digital city space on inhabitants’ connection. To do so, it focuses on the Singaporean Smart Nation and uses survey responses, interviews, and case studies to explore the inhabitant experience. The paper conceptualises the ability to connect based on the theory of value-fulfilment, which allows the relational and subjective aspects of meaningful connection to be appreciated. By focusing on the ability of Singaporean inhabitants to connect, the values embedded in the Smart Nation narratives are shown, and their impact on inhabitants is highlighted. The paper argues that chasing efficiency in the narratives of digitally enhanced spaces can be understood to be interrupting the fulfilment of connection in the Smart Nation. Consequently, the paper concludes that these spaces need to be approached as more than an efficient means of resource allocation but as a way of re-spatialising governance and shaping the way people live in cities.