Smart city” Songdo: an inhabited urban laboratory
Under the control of Incheon public authority, supported by the South Korean state, the private sector has been responsible for producing Songdo, a new city where information and communication technologies play a key role. So, each private actor uses Songdo to experiment with various urban sensors and information technologies. Urban manufacturing is thus based on a capitalist system where technological experimentation is at the center. What roles and intentions do public and private actors have in the realization of Songdo's urban space? Does the implementation of urban information technologies lead to a city that monitors its inhabitants?
The private sector’s involvement through technologies raises questions about their impact on the urban model constructed. This model is representative of a liberal South Korea that, paradoxically mirrors its totalitarian North Korean counterpart. Indeed, North Korean urban production follows similar typologies and yet, different because of the technological gap. In this urban context where North Korea and South Korea are looking at each other urban planning, Songdo appears as an example of an urban image seeking an international visibility, which also target North Korea.
Finally, by tracing the gradual involvement of the public and private actors in Songdo, this presentation seeks to show that the project of a "smart city" in Songdo is based on a private sector laboratory whose perception diverges from experience.
Mots clés : South Korea, Songdo, smart city, urban mega-project, lived space, international visibility
A103588SP