WHITHER ASEAN SMART CITIES NETWORK? EVIDENCE FROM SINGAPORE AND ITS ENERGY POLICY

Abstract

The article analyses the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN) as part of ASEAN’s integration agenda in the context of Singapore’s experience, with a focus on its energy policy. On tracing the origins and evolution of the ASCN, its drivers and limitations, the paper turns to analyzing Singapore’s priorities and policy in developing smart city programs, strategic and tactical aspects of its energy dimension. The energy component of Singapore’s smart city development policy is a representative example of effective management to follow by other ASEAN member states. The paper concludes by several arguments. Although the ASCN is ASEAN’s laudable attempt to intensify regional integration, serious non-ASCN and ASCN-specific obstacles hinder its progress. Singapore finds it relatively easy to develop its smart city initiatives, as innovations and cutting-edge solutions have been a backbone of its policy for a long time. The development of the energy sector is an integral part of Singapore’s economic growth and directly affects its social and economic modernization paradigm. Although selected aspects of this topic have been explored in academic literature, their synergy, substantiated by area research (the energy sector), has not been in the scholarly focus to date. More than that, lack of an instrumental component, exemplified by a subject-oriented approach, makes any research just a paper exercise. Responding to this methodological gap, a subject-related approach (the energy sector) synergized with regional (the ASCN) and intra-country (Singapore) trends accounts for the novelty, originality and relevance of the study.