From headlines to hashtags: How media platforms shape smart city acceptance

Abstract

This paper examines the evolution of legitimation strategies in smart urban transformation through a cross-platform analysis of Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative. Drawing on multiple theoretical perspectives—including discursive legitimation theory, strategic ambiguity theory, collaborative ecosystem frameworks, and elements of justification theory—we analyse 3,146 newspaper articles (1989–2024) and 1,713 tweets (2014–2023) using a mixed-methods approach. Our findings reveal three distinct phases in legitimation strategies: an early technology-centric phase (1989–2013), a transitional citizen-focused phase (2014–2018), and a contemporary phase addressing AI and ethical considerations (2019–2024). We develop the Platform-Specific Legitimation Framework (PSLF) to theorise how traditional media enables “institutional anchoring” through authorisation-based legitimation and industrial worth, while social media facilitates “distributed interpretation” through moral evaluation and civic worth. The framework identifies three key cross-platform dynamics—narrative reinforcement, strategic ambiguity, and adaptive governance—mediated by intermediaries who translate institutional narratives across platforms. This study advances urban studies scholarship by demonstrating how different orders of worth operate across media environments, revealing the temporal dynamics of cross-platform legitimation, and theorising how institutional and social media discourses interact in urban transformation. Our findings suggest the need for collaborative ecosystem governance approaches that can effectively operate across diverse media environments while maintaining coherent smart city narratives.