Periodic Reporting for period 1 - e-Authopia (Authoritarian Smart City)
Période du rapport: 2024-10-01 au 2026-09-30
The smart city fulfils a utopian picture of a future where data-driven, citizen-centred, and just cities thrive. What if this vision of the smart city is combined with the prospect of smart control? What about the sociotechnical imaginaries of authoritarian smart cities? Research on smart cities in authoritarian regimes, for example, in both Saudi Arabia and China, has rarely been critical and has almost never discussed this urban form as authoritarian or surveillant. Even when calls for a comparative global agenda have been issued, authoritarianism has not been a significant component. E-Authopia explores the formation of authoritarian smart cities through the interplay between global smart city trends and domestic policymaking in authoritarian contexts. Through three instrumental case studies of authoritarian smart cities in Turkey, Thailand, and Gabon, I will investigate how the smart city idea is appropriated and localised, how it is positioned within a political system, and how it is translated into governance initiatives. I use semiotic and discursive analysis to study the authoritarian sociotechnical imaginaries of desirable urban futures at the symbolic and language level. Additionally, policy process tracing will be conducted through global pathways of influence and multiple streams framework to illustrate how these imaginaries and visions are localised, concretised, and translated to agenda-setting in policy adoption and development. The Project pursues the following objectives: A) to identify major actors and policy trends by 1) assessing the actors’ impact at global, regional, and local levels in the policy transfer process, 2) discovering international policy norms through instrumental case studies in Thailand, Turkey, and Gabon, 3) verifying trends in policy transfer using empirical evidence from these countries. B) to develop an interdisciplinary methodological framework by 1) creating a structured interdisciplinary methodological framework by integrating methods from policy studies and political science, 2) assessing the effectiveness of this framework in examining the interlinkages between global digitally-enabled governance trends and local policy adoption, 3) validating the applicability of the framework through empirical data and case study results. and C) to conceptualise a theoretical approach by 1) formulating a comprehensive theoretical approach to elucidate and compare the structural and discursive elements of authoritarian surveillance, 2) establishing clear criteria for
comparing these elements across different contexts, 3) validating the theoretical approach through comparative.
comparing these elements across different contexts, 3) validating the theoretical approach through comparative.
1.2.1 Work Package 1: Training
A: Auditing two graduate courses on public policy, ‘Theories of Public Policy’ & ‘Democratic Government & Public Policy’ : The courses that were relevant to my project were only offered in the fall semester starting at the beginning of September. Since I arrived in Canada on 14 October, the courses were already more than half way through. After discussing the issue with my supervisor, we decided to postpone the auditing to 2025.
B: Training in discourse and semiotic analysis: I agreed on a reading list with my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Murakami Wood, and we discussed and examined several approaches with actual examples from his PhD students’ projects. The training is fully complete.
1.2.2 Work Package 2: Research Activities
A: Desk research, (field visits), interviews -Turkey: Although I was originally expected to conduct desk research, potential field visits, and interviews focused on Turkey in the first three quartiles, I completed desk research on all three countries, produced corresponding reports, and made the relevant Zotero library publicly available.
I discussed my project with three urban researchers from Turkey and established a strong connection with the Urban Planning Agency in Istanbul. I successfully secured their agreement to interview eight experts who had conducted extensive research on Istanbul’s smart city infrastructure. I planned a research trip in April 2025 to conduct these interviews. However, shortly before my departure, the Mayor of Istanbul and the head of the planning agency were arrested, and widespread protests broke out in the city. My contact advised me to cancel the trip and interviews for the safety and security of the participants. Unfortunately, I was not able to reschedule due to the termination of my agreement.
In the meantime, I redirected my focus to Thailand and successfully conducted three expert interviews before attending the International Public Policy Conference, where I co-organised two panels.
B: Participation in two research groups at UOttawa: I regularly attended the research events of Centre for Law, technology, and Society and the International Policy Studies Centre at the University of Ottawa. This included more interactions than mentioned in my proposal.
Despite the difficulties, this work package is ahead of its scheduled plan.
1.2.3 Work Package 3: Management and Supervision training
A: Editorial Job-shadowing & PhD mentorship: I have had frequent meetings with both editors- in-chief and have been promoted to associate editor at the Surveillance and Society Journal.
I have attended regular meetings of Prof. Murakami Wood with his PhD students and have contributed to their supervision in many occasions, especially on expanding their theoretical and methodological approach to include Majority World perspectives.
B: Integration of the Global South Network into the SSN: Although this was planned for the last year of the fellowship, I have successfully integrated the Global South Network with a new name of Surveillance in the Majority World Research Network as a working group of the international Surveillance Studies Network.
1.2.4 Work Package 4: Communication and Dissemination
A: Updating the project’s webpage and social media: While sending out interview requests, I noticed that the word authoritarian in the title of the project puts a lot of interview partners and research associates in danger and decreases the likelihood of possible collaborations. For that reason, I wanted to keep a low profile for the project until all interviews are conducted. The incident in Turkey was a good example of how sensitive the public profile can be. This task could not be completed due to the early termination of the project.
B: 2 manuscripts with UOttawa colleagues: Although this activity was designed for Y1-Q4, I have already finished it. The publications include:
Akbari, A. & Wood, David M. (2025). Towards a Critical Political Economy of Surveillance and Digital Authoritarianism. Surveillance & Society, 23 (1): 152-158.
Akbari, A. & Wood, David M. (2025- accepted). Smart City as Control City. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Society.
C: Attending scientific conferences: Although this activity was planned for final quartiles of each year, I have been involved in the following events either as organiser, keynote speaker, or invited speaker.
▪ Panel co-chair (2 panels) on critical perspectives on global AI policy and governance at the International Conference of Public Policy at Chiang Mai, Thailand, 2-4 July.
▪ Invited Speaker: Authoritarian Smart Cities: A Digital Development Dilemma, Annual Symposium of Royal Geographical Society’s Digital Geography Research Group, Online, 20.06.2025.
▪ Member of the organising committee for the first African Surveillance Studies Track at Digital Rights Forum, A collaboration between Surveillance in the Majority World Network, Paradigm HQ, and African Digital Rights Network, Lusaka, Zambia, April 27-8, 2025.
▪ Invited Speaker: Authoritarian Smart Cities: A Digital Development Dilemma, Centre for Law, Technology and Society, University of Ottawa, October 2024.
▪ Keynote Speaker: Authoritarian Smart Cities: A Digital Development Dilemma, Smart Cities as Safe Cities Conference, CEThicS: Interdisciplinary Research Center for Surveillance Technologies and Practices. Université Catholique de Lille, October 2024.
A: Auditing two graduate courses on public policy, ‘Theories of Public Policy’ & ‘Democratic Government & Public Policy’ : The courses that were relevant to my project were only offered in the fall semester starting at the beginning of September. Since I arrived in Canada on 14 October, the courses were already more than half way through. After discussing the issue with my supervisor, we decided to postpone the auditing to 2025.
B: Training in discourse and semiotic analysis: I agreed on a reading list with my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Murakami Wood, and we discussed and examined several approaches with actual examples from his PhD students’ projects. The training is fully complete.
1.2.2 Work Package 2: Research Activities
A: Desk research, (field visits), interviews -Turkey: Although I was originally expected to conduct desk research, potential field visits, and interviews focused on Turkey in the first three quartiles, I completed desk research on all three countries, produced corresponding reports, and made the relevant Zotero library publicly available.
I discussed my project with three urban researchers from Turkey and established a strong connection with the Urban Planning Agency in Istanbul. I successfully secured their agreement to interview eight experts who had conducted extensive research on Istanbul’s smart city infrastructure. I planned a research trip in April 2025 to conduct these interviews. However, shortly before my departure, the Mayor of Istanbul and the head of the planning agency were arrested, and widespread protests broke out in the city. My contact advised me to cancel the trip and interviews for the safety and security of the participants. Unfortunately, I was not able to reschedule due to the termination of my agreement.
In the meantime, I redirected my focus to Thailand and successfully conducted three expert interviews before attending the International Public Policy Conference, where I co-organised two panels.
B: Participation in two research groups at UOttawa: I regularly attended the research events of Centre for Law, technology, and Society and the International Policy Studies Centre at the University of Ottawa. This included more interactions than mentioned in my proposal.
Despite the difficulties, this work package is ahead of its scheduled plan.
1.2.3 Work Package 3: Management and Supervision training
A: Editorial Job-shadowing & PhD mentorship: I have had frequent meetings with both editors- in-chief and have been promoted to associate editor at the Surveillance and Society Journal.
I have attended regular meetings of Prof. Murakami Wood with his PhD students and have contributed to their supervision in many occasions, especially on expanding their theoretical and methodological approach to include Majority World perspectives.
B: Integration of the Global South Network into the SSN: Although this was planned for the last year of the fellowship, I have successfully integrated the Global South Network with a new name of Surveillance in the Majority World Research Network as a working group of the international Surveillance Studies Network.
1.2.4 Work Package 4: Communication and Dissemination
A: Updating the project’s webpage and social media: While sending out interview requests, I noticed that the word authoritarian in the title of the project puts a lot of interview partners and research associates in danger and decreases the likelihood of possible collaborations. For that reason, I wanted to keep a low profile for the project until all interviews are conducted. The incident in Turkey was a good example of how sensitive the public profile can be. This task could not be completed due to the early termination of the project.
B: 2 manuscripts with UOttawa colleagues: Although this activity was designed for Y1-Q4, I have already finished it. The publications include:
Akbari, A. & Wood, David M. (2025). Towards a Critical Political Economy of Surveillance and Digital Authoritarianism. Surveillance & Society, 23 (1): 152-158.
Akbari, A. & Wood, David M. (2025- accepted). Smart City as Control City. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Society.
C: Attending scientific conferences: Although this activity was planned for final quartiles of each year, I have been involved in the following events either as organiser, keynote speaker, or invited speaker.
▪ Panel co-chair (2 panels) on critical perspectives on global AI policy and governance at the International Conference of Public Policy at Chiang Mai, Thailand, 2-4 July.
▪ Invited Speaker: Authoritarian Smart Cities: A Digital Development Dilemma, Annual Symposium of Royal Geographical Society’s Digital Geography Research Group, Online, 20.06.2025.
▪ Member of the organising committee for the first African Surveillance Studies Track at Digital Rights Forum, A collaboration between Surveillance in the Majority World Network, Paradigm HQ, and African Digital Rights Network, Lusaka, Zambia, April 27-8, 2025.
▪ Invited Speaker: Authoritarian Smart Cities: A Digital Development Dilemma, Centre for Law, Technology and Society, University of Ottawa, October 2024.
▪ Keynote Speaker: Authoritarian Smart Cities: A Digital Development Dilemma, Smart Cities as Safe Cities Conference, CEThicS: Interdisciplinary Research Center for Surveillance Technologies and Practices. Université Catholique de Lille, October 2024.
Since the project was terminated at the data gathering phase, it is difficult to speculate the full results. However, the published research agenda of this project has already received 37 citations and I am regularly asked for scholarly reviews related to the concept of authoritarian smart cities. Through these reviews, I am aware that one upcoming book on surveillance in Central Asia by Bristol University Press has used my work as the core theoretical concept.
I also have appeared on a podcast on internet fragmentation and had an extensive interview with the German newspaper die Zeit on internet shutdowns in Iran.
I also have appeared on a podcast on internet fragmentation and had an extensive interview with the German newspaper die Zeit on internet shutdowns in Iran.