Just spent the last couple of days in Incheon attending an international road conference and exhibition. Got to see what’s been done in New Songdo City in the last few years. The 10-year development plan to make it a truly ubiquitous city is pretty ambitious. When the project’s done in 2015, Songdo shin-dosi will be one of the world’s first cities in which all information systems - residential, medical, business, government etc. are linked up together. Expect to see large-scale use of RFIDs, smart cards and sensor-based devices throughout the city. To give you an idea of what that means - one smart card will give you access to your house, get on the subway, pay a parking metre, see a movie, borrow a bike, or rent an electric car that will be distributed around the city. It’ll be really interesting to see how people will adapt to this ubiquitous lifestyle. No doubt some services will take off and gain wide acceptance, but I think lots of applications are bound to fail due to security and privacy concerns. Nonetheless the city will be a good testing ground for ideas that are pushing and blurring the boundaries!
Anyway, on a lighter note, I’ve got one whole day to detach myself from work and spend some time in Seoul before heading off to Tokyo tomorrow. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than reading a good book with a cup of coffee in a place where nobody knows you? Come to think of it, perhaps an ubiquitous, always-on, always-connected city is not my cup of tea. Geeky as I may be, I still have the need to unplug every now and then, and get away from all things digital to keep my sanity. Believe it.
