ABSTRACT
China is a particularly relevant case in point for the study of algorithm governance because it brings together the paternalistic gaze of the totalitarian state with the tracking practices and capabilities of corporate high-tech capitalism. The so-called “Sharp Eyes” is the government project that wants to ensure there will be one camera for every three people in China. The system will be enabled with algorithmic intelligence for face-recognition abilities. The rhetoric of public security is now imbued with the claim to efficiently managing the urban crowd for the optimisation of flows and resources, where the ‘smart city’ has become synonymous with sustainable urbanisation or ‘eco-cities’. The paradox of fostering increased choice with less meaningful participation for citizens is due to the contradictory coming together of forms of technocratic and market-driven governance with poorly understood and practised notions of conviviality, commoning, civic deliberation, resource sharing, trust building, and other face-to-face forms of confrontation and living that make polis and communities work.
