Monday, October 17, 2011

South Korean Cyber City

Cisco issued a media release about the South Korean city of Incheon, using its technology in their cyber-city development: "Incheon Nam-Gu Office Collaborates with Cisco to Realize ‘Smart Nam-Gu' Vision" (Cisco 14 October 2011). But it is diffiult to find out exactly what is proposed. There are medai reports about a U-City, or "ubiquitous city"(Incheon to House World’s Largest Ubiquitous City, Do Je-hae, Korea Times, 12 September 2011). The Korean Tourism Organsation refers to " Tomorrow City" at Songdo, but this appears to be a single six-story building, with facilities relabeled to have the prefix "U": U-Transit Center, U-City Vision Center, U-Mall, and U-Square. The website for "Tomorrow City" (tomorrowcity.or.kr) does not appear to be working. The Incheon City Government refers to a green city, but with few details. There seems noting on the scale of Malaysia's Cyberjaya.

Australia has its own attempt at a high tech city with the Multi-Function Polis (MFP), a Japanese 1980s proposal for a city of the future to concentrate on IT, education and environmental management. What resulted was a more modest suburb in Adelaide and a renamed technology park.

No comments: