The Smart, the Artificial and the Authoritarian: New Caputa of Egypt as a Paradigm of an "Authoritarian Smart City"

T his article builds on the case study of New Capital of Egypt to frame the features characterizing “authoritarian smart cities”. The authors propose to think of authoritarian smart cities in contrast and respond to the mainstream idea of a smart city as a city that simply exists in an authoritarian context. This context, building on Glasius’s practice-based approach to authoritarianism, is characterized by the coexistence of authoritarian and illiberal practices. Authoritarian smart cities wholeheartedly embrace technology as a means to frame the urban experience; however, unlike in the prevailing narrative, this is not for the betterment of the quality of life of residents but for the security- and accountability-free comfort of the regime. The newly erected and populated New Capital of Egypt offers insights into how the desired features of authoritarian smart cities become distorted in the authoritarian context, thus rendering such urban environments mere playgrounds for technology-supported oversight of population. The authors offer the review of policy and legal documents and propose an analytical lens of approaching smart authoritarian cities.