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Hatami, Donya

University of British Columbia

This research explores the phenomenon of the smart city, exploring it through its relationship and intersections with surveillance, utopianism, and nature. The thesis uses as case study and central focus of analysis the Saudi megaproject THE LINE and contextualizes it within the larger trend of urban megaprojects across the Gulf region. Employing a critical perspective and discourse analysis of the project’s marketing material, this study examines the role of imaginaries in shaping these influences and sources in the collective imagination. I argue that smart city urban development is driven by collective social imaginings and culturally resonant images of the future, which have created shared imaginaries of the future that fundamentally structure how we think about surveillance, about urban space and the ideals of utopia, and the conceptual construction of nature. Through cultural artifacts and speculative fiction, shared imaginaries emerge, guiding future urban development and crucially, reinforcing existing structures of power. THE LINE is the apotheosis of this phenomenon and embodies a neoliberal utopian ideology that perpetuates current power structures and the current economic order under the guise of futuristic urban design. The project's rhetoric about nature and technology serve to obscure the ecological costs and avoid discussions of class and politics. Ultimately, this study underscores the need to challenge elite-driven visions of the future, advocating for alternative imaginaries that prioritize sustainability and social equity over techno-utopianism.

Text

2024-08-30

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/89115

Interdisciplinary Studies

University of British Columbia

UBCO

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/