Bridging the Digital Divide: Students Lead the Conversation on Inclusivity in Smart Cities at Festival of Ideas 2024

Over the summer break (May to July 2024), the Tech Urban Student Group (TUSG) of LKYSPP was presented with an exciting opportunity to organise a session for the Festival of Ideas 2024 (FOI 2024), LKYSPP’s flagship event. Recognising the platform as a great opportunity for students to share their experiences and advocacies, TUSG eagerly agreed to host the only student-led panel discussion at FOI 2024. The TUSG Executive Committee, comprising Kenneth Dingal (President), Manvi Rathod (Vice-President), Siti Patimah (Treasurer) and I (Secretary), explored potential topics that would align with the group’s focus on the intersection of urbanisation, technology, and policy. The committee, along with the faculty coordinator, Professor Terence Ho, and the School’s Organising Team, agreed on the topic ‘Bridging the Digital Divide in Smart Cities: A Path to Inclusive Urbanization’.


South and Southeast Asia has witnessed remarkable growth and urbanisation over the past few decades. Technology has also rapidly developed. As cities grow and become more intertwined with technology, becoming “smart” is now a goal of many. With the growing buzz surrounding artificial intelligence, data-driven real-time decision-making, and enhancement of living standards, TUSG found it important to scrutinise how governments at all levels ensure equitable digitalisation and urbanisation.

The topic explored the need to bridge the digital divide in smart cities adjusts a key to improving service delivery and promoting social inclusion. Dimensions such as physical and digital infrastructure, social cohesion and inclusion, governance and ethics of AI, data usage, and smart city governance, were seen as key areas of focus for the student panel discussion.

In assembling the student panel, we wanted to bring together diverse voices— students from varying backgrounds and countries—to create a balanced set of speakers who could synergistically add value to the topic and provide interesting insights. New students were also given the opportunity to be part of the student panel.

After careful deliberation, four student panellists were chosen: Kritika Sha (PhD candidate, India), Llana Banga (MPP Senior, Philippines), Willow Wong (MPP Senior, Singapore) and Aditya Dharmawan (MPP Junior, Indonesia). I had the honour of serving as the moderator.



The student panel discussion attracted a diverse and engaging audience. Several key takeaways were garnered from the session. One is that digitalisation is here to stay, and cities must actively adopt and integrate these technologies to remain competitive and efficient. As such, governments at both national and local levels need to significantly enhance their technical and financial capacities to manage and sustain these initiatives. Partnering with the private sector to address gaps in government capacity was also highlighted in the session.

Equally important was the need for transparency in the use of data and the adoption of digitalisation, as maintaining trust among citizens is essential for the success of bridging the digital divide and of smart cities.

The panel also emphasised the importance of a ground-up, inclusive, and needs-based approach in the planning, design, and implementation of smart cities. Lastly, developing countries should avoid a cookie-cutter approach when adopting models and technologies from developed countries. Instead, they should adapt these solutions to fit their unique local context.

The session was a collaborative success, thanks to the efforts and support of TUSG, Prof Ho, and the Organising Team of FOI 2024. It offered valuable insights into the importance of ensuring digitalisation drives inclusive urbanisation, particularly in fast-growing cities across Asia. TUSG aims to further ignite the passion of LKYSPP students in tackling pressing urban and technology issues, inspiring them to develop innovation solutions for the future of cities.