‘Smartness’ narratives: A critical discourse analysis of smart eldercare in urban China

The rise of smart technology, endorsed by government institutions and recognised for its societal benefits and potential for urban management, has carved a niche for smart eldercare. However, discourses around smart care vary among stakeholders, leading to a constant (re)production of it. This paper investigates three overlapping and sometimes converging stakeholders' (governments, corporations and capital investors) discourses in defining ‘smart eldercare’, arguing that these discourses significantly influence the promotion, implementation and acceptance of smart eldercare in urban Chinese communities. Government entities view smart eldercare as an efficient tool for facilitating community-based population governance and providing a social safety net. In contrast, eldercare corporations view smart eldercare as a powerful narrative to attract investment and secure government funding, while also serving as a means of surveilling in-home care labour. For capital investors, eldercare stands out as a burgeoning and resilient sector, encompassing latent values that warrant careful consideration, especially during periods of economic downturn. Through the lens of discourse analysis, this study underscores the tensions between different discourses and the ways it produces ‘smartness’ in urban China. This paper advocates for understanding ‘smartness’ as a complex, multifaceted concept shaped by diverse stakeholder discourses and socio-economic-political contexts, necessitating flexible, context-sensitive interpretations through discourse analysis. To advance ongoing debates in geography on smart care, smart cities and ageing, this paper reveals how these stakeholder discourses co-produce the notion of ‘smartness’ in urban eldercare, while highlighting the socio-political dynamics underlying technology-driven governance in China.