Openness as smartness: Sociotechnical evolution and imaginaries of open data initiative and smart city in the Republic of Korea

Abstract

This study argues for approaching the open data initiative as a sociotechnical imaginary within the evolving sociotechnical narrative of the smart city in Korea. By conducting a discourse analysis of primary source material from prominent public websites and official public documents, as well as the narrative interviews, I argue that openness and smartness in Korea have developed in parallel, albeit separately, along pluralistic trajectories, while sharing fundamentally similar sociotechnical imaginaries. I identify also how the globally shared values and beliefs of open data and smart city are intertwined and evolve in the nation-specific context of Korea.

Korea is a significant example of how smart city and open data policies have evolved over time. In the early stages of smart city development, the focus of smart city policy is on top-down techno-driven adoption of data-based infrastructures in planning and managing cities to solve urban challenges. The smart city, Songdo was the projection of the narrative of “smartness” onto the city and the tangible manifestation of an envisioned political goal of the country. Apart from it, the open data initiative become one of the most successful digital infrastructures. The implementation of open data initiatives was strongly driven by distinctive digital policies, social consensus, and a vigorous administrative transformation. The sociotechnical imaginaries of smart city and open data have ultimately become complementary and leveraged the other’s narrative to strengthen the development legitimacy of the respective projects. This complementary relationship has eventually accelerated the formation of integrated policies.

Furthermore, I argue that the premise of the smart city and open data imaginaries of Korea is strongly rooted in a context-specific narrative that emphasizes technological solutions to achieve more economic growth and political participation. Such a sociotechnical framing of shared beliefs and values surrounding the smart city and open data creates a visionary and performative force and presents itself as “politically benign and commonsensical (Kitchin, Lauriault und McArdle 2015)”. And there is also little critical reflection on the impact of specific policies and legal regulations within the entangled paths of sociotechnical imaginaries on the economic, and political processes of their transformation.

Consequently, this work addresses the limitations to the sociotechnical imaginary of open data initiatives in Korea and suggests the need to reconsider the meanings of openness and smartness and to create counter-narratives that enable us to explore alternative values and models.

Kitchin, Rob, Tracey P. Lauriault und Gavin McArdle. 2015. Smart cities and the politics of urban data. In: Smart Urbanism: Utopian Vision or False Dawn?, 16–33. London: Routledge, Dezember. https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/7323/ (zugegriffen: 4. Januar 2023).