Digitally-Aided Mobilities in the Post-Pandemic Asian Context

Digitally-Aided Mobilities in the Post-Pandemic Asian Context

May 19-20, 2022

Following the pandemic, the ways in which mobile bodies are being administered and governed
are in sync with advanced techniques of demographic control, which manifests into increasing
digital surveillance on mobilities. Conversely, the neo-liberal economic order reifies speed and
mobility, while ‘deterritorialization’ continues to constitute an important paradigm for the ‘flows and
networks’ in a globalized world. From within this apparent dichotomy emerges a thrust toward
normativizing digitally-aided mobility, which has churned out a diverse range of digital apparatuses
(for instance, apps that measure ‘proxemics’, most popularly, the the contract tracing app; e-passes
for public transports etc.) -- often guised as public health technology systems that seek to restrict,
control, enable and negotiate mobilities across post-pandemic spaces. Departing from here, the
conference seeks to examine the evolving nature of urban spatialities in the context of post-
pandemic Asian cities: how it leverages digital infrastructures and how this forges links with a
techno-futurist imagination of Asia.

Important Dates:  Abstracts due: Dec 31, 2021 |

Decision on abstract: Jan 9, 2022 |

Draft paper due: Apr 22, 2022
It is hoped that select papers from the conference will eventually lead to publishable academic volumes. Amsterdam University
Press has expressed strong interest in the project.