Study in
Digital Transformation
(Master’s thesis: Contextualised Destruction: Tactics of urban protest between liberalism and democracy, in 2020)
From the impact of Digital Transformation on the meaning of urban spaces, this is a theoretical study in the configuration of urban spaces within the era of telecommunications and internet revolutions. Focused on Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy demonstrations, the paper addresses different interactions in social movements, observing urban transformations under the influence of social media and globalisation. And further, the varying representations of what is meant by ‘urban’ on social media and globalised societies within liberalism and democracy.
An analysis of the representations of urban spaces in the social movement was published on Stockholmstidningen.
Vi går inte till skolan men vi fortsätter studera – Ockupation med studiehörna
(We don't go to school but we continue to study - Occupation with study corner)
Formulating hypotheses | Research and Analysis - Human activities and social impacts
Through two case studies on protest tactics and triggered events across MTR, and HKIA to analyse the instant and tangible destruction and the long-term and intangible destruction caused by each site.
In particular, focused on major infrastructural elements of the city, including the MTR railway system (MTR) and Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), and two resulting orders of destruction.
First, the tangible damage inflicted upon the sites themselves, and its immediate consequences for the city’s productivity. Second, the more remote, but no less concrete, effect of undermining Hong Kong’s international reputation as a major business and tourism hub.
As strategic transport nodes, MTR and HKIA are striking stages for political action, effective at drawing the attention of Hong Kong residents.
The digital realm comprehensively changed the ways of crowd mobilisation in social movements since 2010. In the case of Hong Kong 2019 protests, it aided protestors’ mobilisation, even enabling them to reach out to international audiences and increased the damage to the wider reputation of its role as a global financial hub.
Focused on the 'Urban' not only as a site but also as a means of protest. These protest tactics revealed the power of a globally connected layer of urban space, cross-cutting economic, social media, and transportation systems.
However, to fully grasp their use by protesters these spaces must be read in dialogue with the social media platforms expanding their audience. This makes evident a form of urban space irreducible to its physical, built form, but rather globally visible, mediated via rapidly advancing information and communication technologies. Critically, this same urban stratum is intimately connected to the liberal order of economic governance from which Hong Kong’s wealth derives. Thus, contextualising destruction becomes a study of contemporary urban power itself, and how it might best be leveraged to effect political change.