Humanising the Smart City

The proponents of smart city claim that it can help solve urban problems, such as environmental unsustainability, traffic congestion, crime, alienation of underprivileged groups from political decision making, and pandemic. Governments of the world have come to announce their visions for smart city. In academia, there are two contrasting views.

On the one hand, enthusiasts claim that a more intensive installation of information technology infrastructure and more active use of big data and artificial intelligence are the key to achieving the benefits of smart city. On the other hand, sceptics are concerned about the big data firms' appropriation of the data generated by citizens, the seduced consumption caused by big-data-informed advertisements, and the violation of privacy caused by the enhanced surveillance system, among others.

We believe that a more contextualized understanding of the current practices of smart city and more cautious prescription for the future will help us find ways to maximize the human benefits of smart city. Such a vision cannot be created overnight or through a single disciplinary approach. Therefore, we have planned a long-term interdisciplinary and educational research in which the current project will be the first major step.

By involving researchers from various disciplinary backgrounds, including planning, geography, political science, sociology, and philosophy, we will share insights from various disciplines. Critical urban theories and theories in the social studies of technology will be particularly referred to.

Knowledge about smart city practices in the UK and South Korea is particularly useful in achieving this goal. Both countries are known for their advancement in smart city development but not in the same way. South Korea is known for performing bold experiments at a large scale based on their advanced information technology and the government's strong support.

The UK is known for its good integration of smart city technology and urban management. As such, the combination of the two is one of the best pairs that we can think of.

The specific activities of the proposed project include 1) three academic workshops, 2) a major grant proposal, 3) a special issue in an academic journal and an independent paper, and 4) a teaching exchange at the postgraduate level.

1) Three workshops: The first workshop, an online event to be held in May 2022, will survey theories from various disciplines. The second workshop, to be held in Seoul in October 2022, will collect the best practices of smart city. Finally, the third, to be held in Seoul in March 2023, will be an opportunity for the participants of the projects and the invited discussants to share their visions on the future of smart city.

2) To further the outcomes of this project, we plan to apply for a major research grant from ESRC, National Research Foundation of Korea, among others. By building upon the shared views of the team, we will expand the team to cover other continents and prepare a research project for a contextualized view of smart city practices and their visions. During the process of the development of the proposal, a preliminary view of the team will be published as a paper in an academic journal. By preparing the proposal and the paper, the PI will stay with the Korean team for a month.

3) The outcomes of the workshop will be published in a special issue of an academic journal. The PI and the Korean partner will also publish an article on South Korean practice of smart city independently of the special issue.

4) Mutual visits for the workshops offer opportunities for a teaching exchange. Korean visitors to the UK will make themselves available for the invitation to teach at the postgraduation level, to conduct lectures at Bartlett School of Planning, and vice versa. The teaching exchange serves to further solidify the institutional-level networks between the partner organizations and the education.