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Chapter 8.4
Planning for Knowledge
Cities in Ubiquitous
Technology Spaces:
Opportunities and Challenges
Tschangho John Kim
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
AbstrAct
Ubiquitous cities, or U-cities, are defned as places
where public and private services can be deliv-
ered and received anywhere and at anytime. The
goal of this chapter is to identify the challenges
and opportunities that arise in the development
of strategic plans and policies that address the
problems associated with rapid global urban
population growth. This chapter focuses on the
potential of recently developed information and
communication technologies and on the utilization
of these technologies in conjunction with emerg-
ing pervasive ubiquitous geographic informa-
tion techniques. It also discusses the challenges
existing cities face in striving for intelligent and
sustainable development as they move toward
becoming ubiquitous cities.
IntroductIon
According to the United Nations Secretariat
(United Nations, 2006), the world population
will reach 8.2 billion by 2020 with 60.8% of this
total expected to live in urban areas, requiring
approximately 5,000 metropolitan areas with a
population size of one million each. Currently,
about 400 metropolitan areas with varying popula-
tions accommodate the equivalent of about 1,400
urban areas with a population of one million
each. Therefore, the world will need to build the
equivalent of more than 3,500 metropolises with
one million residents over the next 15 years or
expand the existing metropolitan areas to accom-
modate the 3.5 billion additional urban residents.
Under these circumstances, strategic planning
for sustainable and intelligent cities maximizing
scarce urban resources will be a crucial task for
urban scientists and planners. In the U.S. alone,