Coding Empires: Smart City Policies and the Digital Divide in the EU and China

While smart cities are often promoted as solutions for efficiency, sustainability, and urban modernization, they also raise critical questions about inequality and control—particularly whether the digital divide can become a tool of techno-colonialism, where marginalized populations are subjected to data extraction while deprived of the benefits of urban digital infrastructure.

Drawing on Nick Couldry and Ulises Mejias’ data colonialism framework, this research analyzes how the commodification and extraction of data in smart cities mirrors colonial practices, disproportionately affecting marginalized groups. Data capitalism further emphasizes how urban data becomes a valuable asset for tech companies and governments, exacerbating socio-economic divides.

This study examines how policy proposals shape smart city projects in the European Union (EU) and China. The EU focuses on regulatory frameworks centered on digital rights and privacy, while China’s Digital Silk Road emphasizes expanding technological influence. By comparing these regions, the research highlights the socio-political implications of their differing approaches to smart city development.

The theoretical framework is based on the spatial theory of the digital divide, which situates the phenomenon within the uneven development of two critical infrastructures: one physical and fixed in absolute space, and the other coded and digital, creating new spatial arrangements. A Marxist-postcolonial analysis explores how these uneven developments construct modern-day structures of empire, reinforcing power dynamics in both physical and digital spaces.

This analysis seeks to understand how smart city policy proposals reflect broader socio-political goals, including the commodification of data and reinforcement of global inequalities. The relevance of this study lies in contribution to debates on whether smart cities foster inclusivity or deepen socio-economic divides through the expansion of data capitalism and techno-colonialism.