“Be ready for the era of autonomous driving and robots”… Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements presents the policy direction for AI cities
The Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS) has proposed new policy innovation measures for cities to respond to the age of artificial intelligence (AI). The assessment is that AI is emerging as a key policy variable—not just for upgrading city services, but for fundamentally reorganizing the city’s operating system and spatial structure itself.
KRIHS said that it has published a recent National Land Policy Brief, No. 1061, titled “Policy Innovation Measures for Implementing AI Cities,” and that it proposed policy directions to address issues such as spatial polarization and infrastructure conflicts that may arise during the AI-based urban transition.
Kim Ik-hoe, a research fellow at the Smart City and Disaster Prevention Research Center, said in the report that “the spread of AI can both promote innovation in cities and accelerate the concentration of AI industries and core infrastructure in downtown areas, which may intensify regional imbalances and polarization between the city center and outlying areas.”
In particular, it expects that the structure of existing transportation systems and road space will change as autonomous driving vehicles and robotics technologies spread. The rationale is that, assuming AI operates across the entire urban space, new spatial innovation principles must be established.
KRIHS emphasized that, for the implementation of AI cities, the first step is to put the necessary institutional framework in place. The report suggested that reforms are needed to incorporate, centered on the “K-AI City,” an agentic AI-based operating system, measures to ease regional imbalances, efforts to close the gap between downtown and surrounding areas, the restructuring of space focused on autonomous driving and robots, and coexistence between humans and AI.
It also stressed that, throughout the process of realizing AI cities, deregulation and building trust must be pursued in parallel.
To this end, it said that it is necessary to create a demonstration-based foundation linking data safe zones, regulatory free special zones, certification systems, and virtual reality, and to establish a dedicated support organization and a responsible demonstration framework that can support AI demonstrations in a systematic manner.
A regional expansion strategy was also presented as a key task. The research team analyzed that existing smart city services should be institutionalized as a general city operating system, while AI cities should first focus on capable hub cities to accumulate achievements and then expand to surrounding cities—an “interlocked strategy.” This is explained as a way to efficiently use limited financial resources and technical capabilities while reducing AI gaps between regions.
Research fellow Kim Ik-hoe said, “AI cities will be a turning point that fundamentally changes not just how technology is applied, but the operating approach of cities and the structure of citizens’ lives.” He added that “a policy approach is needed that considers both spatial equity and social trust alongside technological innovation.”
---
Dieser Artikel ist neu veröffentlicht von / This article is republished from: The Global Giving News, 11.05.2026
Bitte besuchen Sie/Please visit:
