Digital cities and their commercial aesthetics: The celebration of monarchy in Bangkok

Abstract

This article argues that the expanding role of digital urban infrastructure in Bangkok has revitalised a visual aesthetic designed to uphold royal authority. This royal aesthetic permeates in intimate and widespread areas of city design and urban life, particularly in regard to everyday consumption. The article examines how digital infrastructures facilitate a cheap and efficient continuation of long-standing practices of publicising royal imagery. This politicised practice visually marks Bangkok with a conservative vision of Thainess inextricably tied to monarchy. The article engages with scholarly critiques of ‘smart cities’, scholarship of digital city imaginaries and the study of urban authoritarianism in Bangkok. Based in a visual anthropological approach, the article draws on ethnographic research, both in person and digital, to analyse digital visual propaganda including a campaign called The Pride of Thailand, eulogistic celebrations of King Bhumibol following his death and birthday celebrations of King Vajiralongkorn. The article argues that in Bangkok, digital infrastructures provide an efficient and cost-effective aesthetic that renders urban inequality ordinary and bolster monarchical authority. Owing to the commercial basis of many mainstream digital infrastructures, these images are circulated regardless of consumers’ political preferences. The everyday encounters with images of the monarchy in commercial spaces and online platforms thus serve as an intimate and unavoidable imposition of royal influence.