Naomi C. Hanakata is an Assistant Professor for Urban Design at the College for Design and Environment at the National University of Singapore. She is also Co-Founder and consultant of HANAKATA, a research and planning practice based in Singapore.Her work focuses on the research and development of adaptive planning strategies to deal with uncertainties and dynamic urban futures in urban development and planning. Addressing challenges of planetary urbanization, decarbonization, decentralization of resources and digitalization in planning practice are central in her work towards sustainable and equitable urban futures. She has practiced in Zurich, Tokyo, New York and Singapore as planner and consultant. She has taught at Rice University and ETH Zurich and was educated at ETH, Tokyo University and LSE, and holds a Ph.D. from ETH Zurich.
In this article, Filippo Bignami and Naomi C. Hanakata mobilize the concept of platform urbanizat... more In this article, Filippo Bignami and Naomi C. Hanakata mobilize the concept of platform urbanization to investigate the growing influence of digital platforms on citizenship and urban transformation. It sheds light on the intersection between urban transformation process and (urban) citizenship. Using the lens of observation and interpretation, the concept of platform urbanization is also considered a corollary of the virtual/digital as a rising real, immaterial, and planetary political space. In a critical reflection on the implications of platform urbanization, the authors discuss structural and political corollaries of this development and the subsequent need to reconceptualize citizenship today. Furthermore, the article wants to go beyond dominant practices of the present and scan inherent capacities of platform urbanization for possible urban citizenship scenarios. Taking platform urbanization as an inescapable force in contemporary urbanization processes, and by drawing from a...
Contemporary processes of urbanisation present major challenges for urban research and theory as ... more Contemporary processes of urbanisation present major challenges for urban research and theory as urban areas expand and interweave. In this process, urban forms are constantly changing and new urban configurations are frequently evolving. An adequate understanding of urbanisation must derive its empirical and theoretical inspirations from the multitude of urban experiences across the various divides that shape the contemporary world. New concepts and terms are urgently required that would help, both analytically and cartographically, to decipher the differentiated and rapidly mutating landscapes of urbanisation that are being produced today. One of the key procedures to address these challenges is the application of comparative strategies. Based on postcolonial critiques of urban theory and on the epistemologies of planetary urbanisation, this paper introduces and discusses the theoretical and methodological framework of a collaborative comparative study of urbanisation processes in...
Many of the defining characteristics of the urban are shifting to virtual platforms. This process... more Many of the defining characteristics of the urban are shifting to virtual platforms. This process imbues all dimensions of urban life, from governance to politics and participation. During the global pandemic and the lockdown in many countries, this shift has gathered speed and is changing the way we communicate and work, challenging the everyday life of our cities. As a result, we are confronted with a new topology of negotiation, participation, governance, and control in a virtual realm. With that, rights and duties of citizens are also being transformed, which creates a new dynamic that needs to be captured to ensure an alternative way to perform and enable citizenship. What we refer to as “platform urbanization” is a planetary phenomenon that needs to be investigated as a new driving force in the transformation of the urban condition and in terms of the impact it has on citizenship and the way cities are produced.
Contemporary processes of urbanisation present major challenges for urban research and theory as ... more Contemporary processes of urbanisation present major challenges for urban research and theory as urban areas expand and interweave. In this process, urban forms are constantly changing and new urban configurations are frequently evolving. An adequate understanding of urbanisation must derive its empirical and theoretical inspirations from the multitude of urban experiences across the various divides that shape the contemporary world. New concepts and terms are urgently required that would help, both analytically and cartographically, to decipher the differentiated and rapidly mutating landscapes of urbanisation that are being produced today. One of the key procedures to address these challenges is the application of comparative strategies. Based on postcolonial critiques of urban theory and on the epistemologies of planetary urbanisation, this paper introduces and discusses the theoretical and methodological framework of a collaborative comparative study of urbanisation processes in...
In this article, Filippo Bignami and Naomi C. Hanakata mobilize the concept of platform urbanizat... more In this article, Filippo Bignami and Naomi C. Hanakata mobilize the concept of platform urbanization to investigate the growing influence of digital platforms on citizenship and urban transformation. It sheds light on the intersection between urban transformation process and (urban) citizenship. Using the lens of observation and interpretation, the concept of platform urbanization is also considered a corollary of the virtual/digital as a rising real, immaterial, and planetary political space. In a critical reflection on the implications of platform urbanization, the authors discuss structural and political corollaries of this development and the subsequent need to reconceptualize citizenship today. Furthermore, the article wants to go beyond dominant practices of the present and scan inherent capacities of platform urbanization for possible urban citizenship scenarios. Taking platform urbanization as an inescapable force in contemporary urbanization processes, and by drawing from a...
Contemporary processes of urbanisation present major challenges for urban research and theory as ... more Contemporary processes of urbanisation present major challenges for urban research and theory as urban areas expand and interweave. In this process, urban forms are constantly changing and new urban configurations are frequently evolving. An adequate understanding of urbanisation must derive its empirical and theoretical inspirations from the multitude of urban experiences across the various divides that shape the contemporary world. New concepts and terms are urgently required that would help, both analytically and cartographically, to decipher the differentiated and rapidly mutating landscapes of urbanisation that are being produced today. One of the key procedures to address these challenges is the application of comparative strategies. Based on postcolonial critiques of urban theory and on the epistemologies of planetary urbanisation, this paper introduces and discusses the theoretical and methodological framework of a collaborative comparative study of urbanisation processes in...
Many of the defining characteristics of the urban are shifting to virtual platforms. This process... more Many of the defining characteristics of the urban are shifting to virtual platforms. This process imbues all dimensions of urban life, from governance to politics and participation. During the global pandemic and the lockdown in many countries, this shift has gathered speed and is changing the way we communicate and work, challenging the everyday life of our cities. As a result, we are confronted with a new topology of negotiation, participation, governance, and control in a virtual realm. With that, rights and duties of citizens are also being transformed, which creates a new dynamic that needs to be captured to ensure an alternative way to perform and enable citizenship. What we refer to as “platform urbanization” is a planetary phenomenon that needs to be investigated as a new driving force in the transformation of the urban condition and in terms of the impact it has on citizenship and the way cities are produced.
Contemporary processes of urbanisation present major challenges for urban research and theory as ... more Contemporary processes of urbanisation present major challenges for urban research and theory as urban areas expand and interweave. In this process, urban forms are constantly changing and new urban configurations are frequently evolving. An adequate understanding of urbanisation must derive its empirical and theoretical inspirations from the multitude of urban experiences across the various divides that shape the contemporary world. New concepts and terms are urgently required that would help, both analytically and cartographically, to decipher the differentiated and rapidly mutating landscapes of urbanisation that are being produced today. One of the key procedures to address these challenges is the application of comparative strategies. Based on postcolonial critiques of urban theory and on the epistemologies of planetary urbanisation, this paper introduces and discusses the theoretical and methodological framework of a collaborative comparative study of urbanisation processes in...
This paper presents a comprehensive study of large-scale, master-planned urban developments in As... more This paper presents a comprehensive study of large-scale, master-planned urban developments in Asia and Europe. Increasing in numbers all over the world since the 1980's, these urban mega-projects—here referred to as Grands Projets—have become major drivers of urban intensification. Set forth to actuate urban renewal or to augment city expansion, Grands Projets have become spatial manifestations of cities' larger economic and political agendas. In their development process, they have triggered a change in the urban condition beyond the very boundaries of their sites. As such, they offer a productive means of investigating current urban trends in a globally connected form of concentrated urbanisation. This research, based at the ETH-Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) in Singapore, examines eight case studies in Asia and Europe through five analytical frames: a project's conception, design, implementation, operation and implications. This approach addresses various spatial and temporal scales within different theoretical and material practices, allowing a comprehensive discussion of Grands Projets within and across varying socio-political contexts. This paper sheds light on the specific urban conditions of Grands Projets despite their global development trends, transnational owners or financing alliances and internationally regulated planning practices. Often dependent on exceptional regulations outside statutory planning procedures, they are subject to context-specific challenges, project-specific briefs and unique configurations of actors and stakeholders, all of which have created different manifestations of Grands Projets in space. This analytical framework, as presented in this paper, will form the basis of a larger comparative endeavour to be completed at a later stage in our work.
Contemporary processes of urbanisation present major challenges for urban research and theory as ... more Contemporary processes of urbanisation present major challenges for urban research and theory as urban areas expand and interweave. In this process, urban forms are constantly changing and new urban configurations are frequently evolving. An adequate understanding of urbanisation
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