title: Digital cities and their commercial aesthetics: The celebration of monarchy in Bangkok

authors: Isaacs, Bronwyn

abstract: This article argues that the expanding role of digital urban infrastructure in Bangkok has revitalised a visual aesthetic designed to uphold royal authority. This royal aesthetic permeates in intimate and widespread areas of city design and urban life, particularly in regard to everyday consumption. The article examines how digital infrastructures facilitate a cheap and efficient continuation of long-standing practices of publicising royal imagery. This politicised practice visually marks Bangkok with a conservative vision of Thainess inextricably tied to monarchy. The article engages with scholarly critiques of ‘smart cities’, scholarship of digital city imaginaries and the study of urban authoritarianism in Bangkok. Based in a visual anthropological approach, the article draws on ethnographic research, both in person and digital, to analyse digital visual propaganda including a campaign called The Pride of Thailand, eulogistic celebrations of King Bhumibol following his death and birthday celebrations of King Vajiralongkorn. The article argues that in Bangkok, digital infrastructures provide an efficient and cost-effective aesthetic that renders urban inequality ordinary and bolster monarchical authority. Owing to the commercial basis of many mainstream digital infrastructures, these images are circulated regardless of consumers’ political preferences. The everyday encounters with images of the monarchy in commercial spaces and online platforms thus serve as an intimate and unavoidable imposition of royal influence.

text: Digital cities and their commercial aesthetics: The celebration of monarchy in Bangkok This article argues that the expanding role of digital urban infrastructure in Bangkok has revitalised a visual aesthetic designed to uphold royal authority. This royal aesthetic permeates in intimate and widespread areas of city design and urban life, particularly in regard to everyday consumption. The article examines how digital infrastructures facilitate a cheap and efficient continuation of long-standing practices of publicising royal imagery. This politicised practice visually marks Bangkok with a conservative vision of Thainess inextricably tied to monarchy. The article engages with scholarly critiques of ‘smart cities’, scholarship of digital city imaginaries and the study of urban authoritarianism in Bangkok. Based in a visual anthropological approach, the article draws on ethnographic research, both in person and digital, to analyse digital visual propaganda including a campaign called The Pride of Thailand, eulogistic celebrations of King Bhumibol following his death and birthday celebrations of King Vajiralongkorn. The article argues that in Bangkok, digital infrastructures provide an efficient and cost-effective aesthetic that renders urban inequality ordinary and bolster monarchical authority. Owing to the commercial basis of many mainstream digital infrastructures, these images are circulated regardless of consumers’ political preferences. The everyday encounters with images of the monarchy in commercial spaces and online platforms thus serve as an intimate and unavoidable imposition of royal influence.

year: 2025

title: Planning in the post-pandemic era

authors: Haughton, Graham

abstract: The COVID-19 lock-down has exposed shortcomings in how we have been planning our towns and cities, and in the new political space that this is opening up planners should look for a ‘new normal’ that reduces inequalities and risks.

text: Planning in the post-pandemic era The COVID-19 lock-down has exposed shortcomings in how we have been planning our towns and cities, and in the new political space that this is opening up planners should look for a ‘new normal’ that reduces inequalities and risks.

year: 2020

title: Protecting hapū data privacy: A Ngāti Tiipa case study of technology considerations

authors: Clark, Vanessa

abstract: This brief is a part of a series, produced for the Tikanga in Technology (TiNT) research programme, that provides a hapū perspective on data sovereignty, data governance, and data privacy. In this brief we focus on the Ngāti Tiipa ‘layer cake’ technology approach and assess it against the values of the TiNT Māori Data Privacy Framework. This brief should be read in conjunction with TiNT Brief #3 The Māori Data Privacy Framework: How useful is it for hapū?

text: Protecting hapū data privacy: A Ngāti Tiipa case study of technology considerations This brief is a part of a series, produced for the Tikanga in Technology (TiNT) research programme, that provides a hapū perspective on data sovereignty, data governance, and data privacy. In this brief we focus on the Ngāti Tiipa ‘layer cake’ technology approach and assess it against the values of the TiNT Māori Data Privacy Framework. This brief should be read in conjunction with TiNT Brief #3 The Māori Data Privacy Framework: How useful is it for hapū?

year: 2025-02-11