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Short abstract:

This paper argues the socio-technical imaginary of the smart city and open data in Korea is rooted in the distinctive national developmentalism and Korea's the notion of openness and smartness form a synergistic socio-technical imaginary, mutually leveraging and enhancing each other's imaginaries.

Long abstract:

This paper argues for approaching the open data initiative as a socio-technical imaginary within the evolving socio-technical narrative of the smart city in Korea. By conducting a discourse analysis of prominent public documents, as well as the 11 narrative interviews, I argue that the socio-technical imaginaries of openness and smartness in Korea have evolved in their different and pluralistic path. However, both initiatives ultimately synergize, mutually leveraging and enhancing each other's imaginaries.

Korea is a significant example of how smart city policy has evolved over time dynamically. The national focus of smart city development was on top-down techno-driven adoption to controll urban spaces by establishing digital infrastructures. The smart city driven by technological determinism was the tangible manifestation of an envisioned political goal and the projection of smartness onto the city as a whole. At the same time the open data initiative has become one of the most successful digital infrastructures, strongly driven by national digital policies. However, the concepts of smart city and open data have ultimately become complementary and leveraged the other's narrative to reinforce the development logic of the respective projects. This complementary relationship has been successfully intertwined over the past few years, accelerating the formation of integrated policies and their performative realization in the socio-technical imaginaries of both.

Consequently, this work addresses the limitations to the sociotechnical imaginary of both initiatives and highlights a reimagination of the notions of openness and smartness, advocating for the development of counter-narratives that open up space for alternative models.