Public trust and political legitimacy in the smart city / Science, Technology, & Human Values 1 Public trust and political legitimacy in the smart city: a reckoning for technocracy Science, Technology, & Human Values Kris Hartley Department of Asian and Policy Studies Education University of Hong Kong Article first published online February 8, 2021 https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/TZSKRYCRM8KP6W8UI33J/full Abstract The 2020 introduction by China’s central government of a national security law in Hong Kong marked a watershed moment in the social and political history of the semi-autonomous city. The law emerged after months of street protests that reflected declining public trust in Hong Kong’s government. Against this turbulent backdrop, Hong Kong’s policy projects moved forward, including smart city development. This article explores public trust in and political legitimacy of Hong Kong’s smart cities endeavors in the period leading up to the introduction of the national security law. At a theoretical level, the smart cities phenomenon invites critical reflection about tensions between technocracy and democracy, but this topic remains largely unexploited by empirical literature. Using survey data from 1,017 residents, this study identifies confidence in the benefits of smart cities but lesser trust in privacy and security and lesser satisfaction with participation opportunities in related policymaking. Probing these dynamics, the study finds that trust in smart city mechanics and governance associate positively with support for smart cities, controlling for ideology and issue awareness. Illuminating a theoretical and practical puzzle, these findings contribute empirically to discussions about the political legitimacy of scientific, technological, and technocratic undertakings in the public sector. Keywords: politics, power, governance, engagement, intervention, smart cities, technocracy, political legitimacy, Hong Kong 1. Introduction Hong Kong’s 2020 national security law (NSL) was introduced by China’s central government at a time of deep social and political division in the city (Purbrick 2020). 1 In mid- 2019, street protests erupted in opposition to a proposed extradition law that appeared to place Hong Kong residents at risk of legal prosecution in mainland China’s court system (Purbrick 2019). 1 A British territory for most of the 20 th century, Hong Kong was “handed over” to China in 1997 (Buckley 1997). The resulting governance arrangement is known colloquially as “one country, two systems,” institutionalized under the Sino-British declaration of 1984 (Wong 2004). Under this arrangement, Hong Kong is a territory under the rule of China’s central government but entitled to maintain its existing economic, social, and political freedoms until 2047. There has been increasing concern that this arrangement is in need of reform (Cheung 2019) and that the guaranteed freedoms are not fully respected by China’s central government (Teo 2020; Yuen 2015).