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Weekly UpdatesINTRODUCTION
Socio-economic changes in the information era immensely impact on our societies, lifestyles, built and natural environments and urban amenities (Yigitcanlar et al. 2008a). Particularly globalisation and the rise of the knowledge economy along with increasing environmental concerns are leading urban policy makers to look for alternatives in urban infrastructure and service provision. Additionally, rapid technology development in the area of digital network and telecommunications has a significant effect on contemporary urban infrastructure planning. Ever since Mitchell (1999) envisaged the 'E-topia' at the end of the 20th Century, describing the kinds of changes he anticipates will take place in urban spaces as a consequence of the digital revolution, urban digital networks have been developed as one of the most important urban infrastructures. For instance, technological advances and the benefits resulting from the use of these technologies in urban planning resulted in the emergence of new forms of urban infrastructure such as driverless transport systems, smart cards and intelligent traffic control systems (Cohen & Nijkamp 2002). In the Republic of Korea and Japan, policymakers and planners have developed and applied 'ubiquitous computing systems' in urban infrastructure planning and development. This new 'ubiquitous urban infrastructure' (U-infrastructure) provides everyone with an opportunity to access to urban services using any information technology devices, regardless of time and location (Lee 2005a).
U-infrastructure is a key component of 'ubiquitous' city development and has a significant effect on the emergence of a new paradigm for urban infrastructure planning and development that is ecologically sustainable and democratic in nature. Ubiquitous cities, or U-cities, are defined as places where public and private services can be delivered and received anywhere and anytime (Kim 2008). Formation of these high-tech cities has not yet been considered widely around the world by policy makers and urban planners (Yigitcanlar 2006), perhaps because the idea of ubiquitous computing was so far only limited to the design or improvement of smart buildings, as in the cases of Singapore and Hong Kong. As discussed in this paper, however, the process in Korea, and also Japan (Bessho et al. 2008), reveals that it is possible to develop cities of the future by developing U-infrastructures that are smart and eco-friendly.
The following sections of the paper discuss major issues of ubiquitous urban service provision, urban planning, urban land use, and infrastructure developments, particularly in Korean cities. Using Korean experience, the paper discusses a new form of urban infrastructure and system driven by the concept of U-infrastructure. The paper then concludes with recommendations for policymakers and urban and infrastructure planners of elsewhere who are interested in adopting U-infrastructure systems.
UBIQUITOUS URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) play an increasingly important role in the planning, management and use of urban physical infrastructure in the areas of transport systems, power supply, sewerage and waste treatment and water supply and management. The Republic of Korea, followed by Japan, is a world leader in the use of ICTs in urban infrastructure planning and management (Cohen-Blankshtain 2004). Over the last two decades, Korea has continuously developed local, regional and national strategies for knowledge-based and sustainable urban development by incorporating state of the art ICTs. The country's U-Korea and U-city agendas aim to increase the use of ICTs in the development and management of urban space for prosperous and sustainable development.
In the 21st Century, technological developments in the areas of remote sensing, geographic information systems and wireless communications have made huge strides as a result of tremendous changes in mobile networks--mobile phones, vehicle navigation, smart cards and personal tracking systems. In particular, mobile phones have become intelligent devices, used not for only inter-personal communication but also to access information and services provided via the internet (Lee 1999). These wireless and advanced technologies provide opportunities for a person to communicate not only with other people but also with any product or service elements of the existing urban infrastructure, notably transport, water supply, public parks and route directions if the objects contain sensors, processors and software. These physical infrastructure items and mobile objects, such as cars on the road, oil running through a pipeline and electricity flows in a power supply line, can be self-monitored, controlled and protected by digital networks (Lee et al. 2008b).
U-infrastructure uses sensors and sensor networks to continually communicate with wired and/or wireless computer devices embedded in personal devices (mobile phones, personal digital devices), buildings, infrastructure, and any feature or object of the urban space. This allows ubiquitous communication of person-to-person, person-to-object, and object-to-object even though computers or devices are invisible to users. U-infrastructure improves the effectiveness of urban infrastructure planning, management and use in many ways. U-infrastructure also contributes to the creation of an environmentally friendly, sustainable and smart city by making ubiquitous computing available for the public, allowing them to report environmental hazards immediately to the environmental protection agency, for instance, and leads to a significant shift to a new paradigm of urban infrastructure planning and provision in Korea and potentially elsewhere (Lee et al. 2008a). It can make the management of urban facilities more efficient and provision of services less expensive. For instance, people can access information without searching for information via the internet and objects share data with other objects without inputting data from people.
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Further, U-infrastructure also helps to realise U-democracy by encouraging citizens to participate in the decision-making processes (see Klosterman 2001) using personal devices such as mobile phones, personal digital devices (PDAs), and sometimes by automatic recognition via radio frequency identification or sensors. Policy experiment and simulations through U-Infrastructure also provide a fair and transparent participation opportunity for stakeholders. Using policy experiments and simulations, a policy maker can test various policy options and evaluate current policies according to the economic and market performance, which diminishes the challenges of policy and market failure (Lee 2004). Figure 1 below illustrates the basic framework and components of a U-infrastructure, which are discussed in the next sections.
Technologies of Ubiquitous Infrastructure
ICT-based ubiquitous technologies are vital for the development of a U-infrastructure system that provides a wide range of services to the public (Figure 1). 'Telematics', for instance, allows users to send, receive and store traffic information via telecommunication devices, so far mostly by using global positioning system technology integrated with computers and mobile communications technology. Transport telematics applications are able to do more than this, such as contributing to safer, cleaner and more efficient transport by helping travellers, freight distributors and transport operators avoid delays, congestion and unnecessary trips--e.g. diverting traffic from overcrowded roads to alternative modes. These functions cover rail, sea and inland waterways and can reduce accidents, increase productivity, gain extra capacity from existing infrastructure, encourage integrated transport, reducing energy use and pollution, which increases the quality of life within the cities. It can also provide savings of time and energy for individual drivers, reduce congestion for the city, and have long-term positive impacts on the built and natural environments (Lee et al. 2008b).
A number of other technologies are also required for the successful development of U-infrastructures. Wireless local area network (WLAN), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) and fibre to the home network (FTTH) are among the most sophisticated technologies. According to Lee at al. (2008a: 150152), the most common technologies that are widely used in U-infrastructures include but are not limited to the following:
* Broadband Convergence Network (BcN) is the integrated next generation wired/wireless network for the convergence of voice, data, internet, telecommunications and broadcasting. BcN provides the backbone for ubiquitous computing services, and is designed to provide fast internet access, about 50 times faster than current conventional services.
* High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and Wireless Broadband (WiBro) are the data access channels, which can transmit fast, easy and high quality large-size multimedia items such as videos and music files.
* Ubiquitous Sensor Network (USN) is the ubiquitous environment for communication among the small embedded devices with sensing capabilities. Small enough to guarantee the pervasiveness needed for U-infrastructure, sensor devices are associated with the development of networks that provide valuable information to be used in a great variety of sensor applications. USNs are numerous, easily accessible; often invisible computing devices; frequently mobile or embedded in the environment; connected to an increasingly ubiquitous network infrastructure; and composed of a wired core and wireless edges to get information through any devices anytime and anywhere.
* Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a sensing technology that automatically identifies people, animals, or objects using radio waves from small sensor devices, which are composed of RFID tags or transponders and RFID readers. All RFID tags contain an integrated circuit for storing and processing information, modulating and demodulating a radio frequency signal and perhaps other specialised functions and an antenna for receiving and transmitting the signals.
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