Human Rights and the ASEAN Smart Cities Network: Covering Unaddressed Civic and Social Concerns

TL;DR

This paper examines how the ASEAN Smart Cities Network addresses human rights and public services in Southeast Asia's smart city development.

Contribution

The paper introduces policy recommendations to ensure smart city initiatives in ASEAN prioritize human rights and social inclusion.

Findings

Smart city development in ASEAN often overlooks basic human rights and public service provisions.

Under-privileged groups face risks of exclusion in smart city governance.

External funding models may undermine democratic progress in the region.

Abstract

The development of smart cities through the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN) has accelerated the growth of Southeast Asia’s capital and important cities. However, a growing concern has been how much the intention of Southeast Asian cities to achieve a ‘smart city status’ considers the basic elements of human rights and the provisions of essential and basic public services. The first policy recommendation is the acknowledgment of the vulnerability of the under-privileged, personal security, and social inclusion for governing smart cities to counter the possible derailing of democratic progress from taking place in the region. The second recommendation is to have fellow ASEAN member states assist in the provision of essential public services to avoid a ‘development’ model imposed by external funding stakeholders. The policy brief utilizes secondary data between 2018 and 2024 on the ASEAN Smart Cities Network projects and identifies the civic and social concerns arising within the specified time

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