Her research interests are in comparative constitutional law, international law and the intersections between law and development. Her current research is on “contestatory federalism” and the role of constitutional courts as counter-majoritarian institutions.
Research Project
What’s so smart about smart cities? A legal and constitutional appraisal of governance of smart cities in the Global South
Postcolonial states have tried to uphold their legitimacy and show their difference from the former colonial rulers in that they have moulded themselves as “developmental” states. From early post-colonial leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru in India and Nasser in Egypt, building dams, bridges, roads and other infrastructure was seen as the signs of ‘progress’ and ‘development’. These forms of ‘visible’ development contrasts with ‘less visible’ development, like provision of minimum amount of social welfare, health care, primary education and so on, ultimately leading to a betterment of the population (and to better human development indicators). In the last couple of decades, there has been a move towards building or developing so-called “smart cities”, spaces which are seen to be ahead of other spaces, in areas like technology, infrastructure, use of latest forms of green energy and the like. Some scholars from human geography and political sciences have focussed their research on smart cities, very few legal scholars have done so. This project seeks to review the concept of ‘smart cities’ from a legal and constitutional perspective. In doing so, it asks the following questions: to what extent do ‘smart cities’ differ in their governance structures? Do the fit within the constitutional framework of democratic orders? How does the governance of ‘smart cities’ align with existing legal and constitutional frameworks of local government? Finally, it seeks to answer the question, do ‘smart cities’ constitute a shift in the constitutional ordering of local government?
In India, the ‘Smart Cities Mission’ has been launched by the federal government, thus prima facie surpassing the sub-national level, the states, which are constitutionally assigned the subject of local government. Also interesting is that ‘Smart Cities’ are set up as ‘Special Purpose Vehicles’, a construction that shields it both from the vagaries of local citizenship, participation and democracy as well as from the ‘overburdening’ bureaucracy of the state. The Smart City Framework Malaysia (MSCF) is a national-level framework, which should serves as a “guide and reference to Local Authorities as city manager, state governments, federal ministries and departments, industry players, academician and other stakeholders in planning and developing smart cities in Malaysia holistically and in line with the current developments.” What does this framework mean in the context of Malaysian local government?
