Smart City Visioning and Design to Enhance Sustainability, Resilience, and Community Wellbeing: A Comparison of Bangkok, Thailand, and Singapore

Smart City characteristics, as exemplified by Smart Environment, in the form of green space, and Smart Mobility, as described by Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), are compared for Singapore and Bangkok. The two cities have different histories, social, cultural, economic, and physical attributes that are reflected in their Smart City Planning approach. Singapore has an efficient, top-down approach that can be business-friendly, while Bangkok is more of a hybrid that reflects aspects of national and local-level governance, but also includes the private sector. Despite differences in planning and governance systems, and progress towards Smart City development, endpoints of the Smart City visions embraced by the two cities have some distinct similarities with respect to Smart Mobility and Smart Environment. These similarities include consideration of green space, TOD, ICT applications, and “smart hubs” that link the private sector and institutes of higher education, as part of the Smart City movement. While ICT technology is demonstrated to have an important role in assessing Smart Environment performance and seamless public transit, we emphasize that community consultation is essential in shaping the Smart City path and framing the support role for ICT. As illustrated in our case studies, it can be concluded that a Smart City design philosophy provides a rich diversity of opportunity to enhance sustainability, resilience, and wellbeing of a community with respect to future disruptions, including climate change and pandemics.