It was a few years ago. While advising bureaucrats in a developing country to build a smart city, I was surprised that the smart city they thought was different from ours. It was no longer a 'smart' technology to us, such as apartment front door closed circuit (CC) TVs and digital door locks, which were considered a symbol of a smart city to them. Smart cities are applied differently depending on the situation in which each city faces and the conditions in which technology can be utilized. The concept of smart cities used by major cities around the world is also diverse.
It has already been more than 20 years since the U-City was presented using the unfamiliar word "ubiquitous," which translates to "accessible anywhere." The government led the establishment of urban infrastructure using information technology (IT) and the goal was to improve the quality of life. We were so ahead that New Yorkers misunderstood the picture of people looking at their cell phones on the Seoul subway as a composite picture. At that time, New York was hard to see even Wi-Fi on the ground.
Singapore, which advocates a "smart country" and even has a smart city minister, was also a latecomer to us at that time. Since 2009, more than 40 ubiquitous cities have been created, and since 2019, 150 local governments have been using smart city technology as a means of solving urban problems, ranging from mobile IDs to drone operations that detect safety accidents. The number of smart technologies released by local governments has exceeded 400, and there are about 50 local governments that periodically establish smart city plans. In terms of appearance, it is clear that the country that has been at the forefront of smart city construction in the global community. It is also true that Korea's globally competitive IT has been combined with urban construction to create many examples.
But if you look a little closer, the U-City, which created dozens of them, no longer works properly. Hundreds of local governments are putting up smart cities as slogans, but there are a few places that operate smartly. There are various reasons, but we can first point out the manpower and financial problems of local governments, which are the main agents of smart cities. Smart' technology, the basis of smart cities, continues to develop. It is not an infrastructure that repairs broken places like sidewalks or streetlights or paints them. It needs to be updated to work. High-quality manpower and costs are essential for maintenance, most of which are vulnerable points for local governments. There is also the question of governance. The Chicago City Hall website provides real-time crime locations. It is to give information so that citizens can immediately know dangerous places. Of course, we have similar data, but we cannot disclose it. This is due to complaints from residents who were concerned about falling land prices.
It is not as easy as you think to run a smart city smartly. Many of the smart cities that have been created so far have ended up with pilot projects. It's a pity that it's past, but from now on, we have to find a way to continue smart operations. The idea that some fancy pilot projects can improve the quality of life for residents, now it should be abandoned.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Kim Seyong
Quelle/Source: Maeil Business Newpaper, 11.05.2025
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