Interessante experiência de uma nova cidade totalmente contruída na Coréia utilizando a idéia de uma U-City, cidade ubíqua, onde as redes e tecnologias estão sendo pensadas durante em conjunto com a criação do espaço urbano. Normalmente o que vemos é a “ação” das novas tecnologias em um espaço e uma cultura já constituídos.
Vejam mais no link Songdo U-Life (via Space and Culture).
” (…)Imagine, then, the breathtaking sense of possibility involved in the creation of an entirely new city. The challenge of Gale International’s Songdo City is to fashion a successful urban environment for the 21stcentury. The yardsticks are many: economic, social, environmental. Technology is the enabler for much of that value creation, but we contend that our vision of the city and the life it makes possible is the underpinning for those wires and networks, not the other way around.
Creating an “ubiquitous city,” or “U-City,” in which all major information systems (residential, medical, business, etc.) share data; computers are built into the houses, streets and office buildings; and the technology and facilities infrastructures are integrated would be a gargantuan challenge for an existing city. In the case of Songdo, it’s the easy part. Since Songdo is a completely new city, it serves as a blank canvas on which to freely imagine and implement a technology vision without having to incorporate existing buildings or legacy networks. Songdo also has the advantage of being located in a nation that boasts an extraordinary level of technological acumen, the highest penetration and variety of broadband services, and a population that is likely the most computer literate – and demanding – on Earth.
What is more difficult is planning for the emergence of a ‘U-Culture’ that is energizing and enabling, that results in applications both serendipitous and unpredictable, and where citizens will decide for themselves what kind of digital life they want. This challenge deeply informed the hypotheses behind the design of Songdo and its technology infrastructure, as well as the concept of Songdo as an experimental test-bed for new digital applications on a scale – an entire city – unique in the world. Songdo’s integrated facilities management service provider, Songdo U-Life, LLC, will partner with high-tech companies around the world who can similarly envision these possibilities.
Broadband connectivity (wired and wireless) is now viewed as a de rigueur infrastructure element in everything from individual buildings to large-scale urban developments. As a result, developers and builders tend to see technology as an end in itself, a necessary amenity that in many ways is no different from any other amenities that can be marketed to buyers and tenants, whether they be granite kitchen counters or teak-paneled conference rooms. But a marble counter, while a status symbol, doesn’t inspire a new way of cooking, nor does an impressive conference room inspire a new kind of business practice. Technology is both an amenity and an enabler, and the best of our new residential and commercial buildings – and certainly the best of our urban design – steps back to look at how architecture and planning can inspire people to new, and perhaps unexpected, activities. The goal is not to build wired buildings and cities, but to build inspirational buildings and cities in which technology enables personal lifestyle choices and corporate innovation. This is a new ‘best practice’ in the evolution of cities and real estate development. Indeed, as Anthony Townsend of the Institute for the Future has argued, ubiquitous computing will challenge urban design in the 21st century as much as the automobile did in the 20th.”