the ubiquitous city
This is part of Anothony Townsend’s vision of the future which I spotted this at the slightly wierd, but visually arresting, angermann2:
Townsend continues,The rapid convergence of mobile communications, automated positioning technologies, and geographic information systems (GIS) into “locative media” is raising the possibility of a dramatic transformation of the way we perceive and move about the urban environment, and how we interact with each other in urban spaces. Endless possibilities for locative media are being proposed that promise increased convenience, awareness, transparency, and access to information and social opportunities that break traditional power structures.
Something about this reminded me of this picture:locative media will also extend our awareness of the urban condition and give urban planners the kind of real-time data that climatologists and astronomers already use to understand their own complex systems. Thus locative media could very well drive a fundamental shift in our awareness of how cities function as collective organisms
The picture comes from Peter Merholz’s post entitiled Metadata for the Masses which is think addreses the some of same issue, although he does it in the context of classification systems on the internet.
The common thread is that they are both out to understand how technology and it’s relationship to space. Anothony Townsend focusing on physical space, while Peter Merholz grapples with electronic space. Here’s some of what Merholz had to say
In looking for a real-world analog, I thought of the foot-worn paths that appear in a landscape over time. Called “desire lines,” these trails demonstrate how a landscape’s users choose to move, which is often not on the paved paths. A smart landscape designer will let wanderers create paths through use, and then pave the emerging walkways, ensuring optimal utility.
Both agree that it’s still too early to say in which direction the shift will take us. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see….
Oh, angermann2 has a lot more information about architecture, urban planning and technology.
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Businesses and policymakers are accelerating their drive for a national urban development project focused on strengthening the role of information and communication technology in civic planning and management.
The Ministry of Information and Communication said it expects to open the “Korea U-City Forum” next month, joined by high-tech heavyweights such as KT Corp., Samsung SDS Co. and government agencies including the Ministry of Construction and Transportation and the Korea Land Corp.
The forum will focus on delivering industry standards for next-generation city projects and designing a supporting administrative framework.
“We hope the forum can provide a floor for better communication and interaction between the government and companies. The idea is to take the separate U-City projects pushed by regional governments and private companies and fully integrate them with the national development policy,” said Lee Geun-ho, a Soonchunhyang University professor and senior vice president of the Korea U-City Promotion Association.
Lee said the forum will release a detailed outline and budget during the second half of the year.
“The forum’s early efforts will be focused on developing technologies, industry standards and finding advanced applications at the service level. The goal is to find urban development models that fit accordingly with the existing environment that differ regionally, achieving balanced development and overlap of investment,” he said.
The next-generation city project, dubbed by Korean officials as the “U-City project,” is aimed at building industry-wide partnerships between the high-tech and construction sectors to integrate advanced info-tech infrastructure to support the sustainable development of cities.
The idea is to create environments in cities where residents can enjoy access to high-speed networks and enhanced information services at anytime regardless of location through a ubiquitous computing network.
The government hopes the U-City project will strengthen Korea’s status as an international technology powerhouse and establish itself as regional cluster and test bed for world-class companies here and abroad. The project is also seen as critical to providing the infrastructure and generating a larger service market for next-generation communication technologies, such as sensor-based computing, radio-frequency identification applications and mobile Internet.
According to KT Corp., the country’s largest fixed-line telephony and broadband Internet carrier, the market for U-City development projects will be worth between $15 billion to $22 billion by 2010. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with the city government of Busan last month to head its U-City project.
“U-City is a project of rebuilding an entire city under an advanced info-tech infrastructure. It is a massive project involving heavy investment and it would be hard to design a fixed road map for the projects since there are so many parties and different interests involved. Building an efficient connection between the central government, regional governments and the private sector is the key to success,” said Park Jin-sik, who heads KT’s U-City division.
Regional governments have been laying out comprehensive plans to integrate advanced info-tech infrastructure in urban areas. Seoul has been pushing its Digital Media City project since 1998, which aims to develop the city’s western district of Sangam-dong as a research and development hub for the high-tech industry.
Providing an advanced networking environment is also a part of Incheon’s intentions for New Song-do City, the next-generation city project scheduled for completion in 2014, while the island of Jeju has similar plans to develop itself as the country’s next high-tech boomtown.
Governments worldwide are increasingly adopting plans to combine their advancements in information-technology with urban development. The European Union has a road map called Intelcity, which will designate six European cities and integrate them with a ubiquitous network by the end of 2010.
Malaysia plans to invest $1.7 billion to build info-tech hubs across the nation by 2020 through its Multimedia Super Corridor project.
(thkim@heraldm.com)
By Kim Tong-hyung
2005.04.15
Comment by Geunho Lee — April 16, 2005 @ 10:54 am
Ubiquitous City
On Seven Castles from Shangai, Anthony Townsed from Silicon Valley or on Thinking Machine from Sudfrica they talk us about one word wich I’m sure in a sort time it will be important for the correct developing of ICT’s in the cities…… “Ubiquitous…
Trackback by K-Government Blog — June 29, 2005 @ 8:59 pm