SONGDO SMART CITY Textbook p383/ You tube videos

Sort these facts into positive and negative evaluation points.

“Ubiquitous city” – highly interconnected, via technological media

Video connections between parts of the city, eg schools

Residents can control items in their buildings remotely

Sensors control traffic, energy consumption and domestic heating

Renewables such as solar and wind are used

Waste goes directly to treatment plants via pipelines

Water conservation measures reduce consumption by 30%

Population 150,000 – half the intended population

Car-free aim – using bicycles (25km of bike lanes) and public transport

Districts reduce the need for travel

Easy to reach work, school, home, shops on foot

Airport is just 11km away

Songdo is costing $35billion to build

Project started 2001 but is still being built

Built on 600 hectares of reclaimed land from the sea (a bluefield site ?? :)

40% of the space is open space; its Central Park is 40 hectares

Songdo is part of Incheon Free Economic Zone, with tax breaks to attract businesses

Songdo is studied by city planners across the world

It is one of 100 such projects globally

Questions:

Would smart city ideas work in a) megacities? b) LICs?

Do sustainable cities have to be built from scratch?

What’s the most important factor in smart city development: money, infrastructure, skill,
political will?

Task: Write a short evaluation of Songdo as a smart city