The Worlding and Provincialising of Singapore as a “Smart Nation”

Speaker: Orlando Woods (Singapore Management University)

Abstract

Since being launched in 2014, Singapore’s “Smart Nation” initiative has becoming a guiding logic for the city-state’s next era of technologically-determined urban development. As much as it has caused Singapore to strengthen its ties with leading smart cities around the world, so too does it encourage reflection of the idiosyncrasies of the Singapore case, and how Singapore is both “worlded” and “provincialised” by its smart transition. Drawing on ongoing qualitative research conducted amongst the architects of the Smart Nation from both the public and private sectors, this seminar will situate Singapore within the global networks of talent, solutions and ideas that not only implicate smart cities, but the digital transformation of society and industry as well. I will consider how Singapore’s unique politico-geographical characteristics – especially its single-layer of, and highly centralised, government – has enabled it to embed the rhetoric of smartness into the fabric of the city, society, government and industry. At the same time, I will consider how the headwinds facing the realisation of the Smart Nation might not necessarily be unique to Singapore, but are more generalisable trends experienced throughout the urban world. Finally, I will consider the role that Singapore plays in galvanising smart city development in Southeast Asia.

Event recording

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Speaker biography

Orlando Woods is an Associate Professor of Geography and Lee Kong Chian Fellow at the College of Integrative Studies, Singapore Management University. He has published more than seventy journal articles, books and book chapters on topics relating to religion, urban culture, smart cities and digital transformation in South and Southeast Asia. He holds BA and PhD degrees in geography from University College London and the National University of Singapore respectively.

Organiser: SOAS Centre of South East Asian Studies

Contact email: centres@soas.ac.uk