South Korea's "ubiquitous" Songdo city begins to take shape
By Donald Melanson 
posted Jul 2nd 2008 4:19PM
posted Jul 2nd 2008 4:19PM
It's been a good long while since we've heard anything about South Korea's planned "ubiquitous city," Songdo, but it looks like the mammoth effort is finally beginning to take shape, as evidenced by the BBC's recent trip to the $200 billion development. According to the BBC, the city is now scheduled for completion in 2015, as opposed to 2014, but the first few developments will apparently be open for business as soon as 2009. Somewhat disconcertingly for South Korea, however, is the complete lack of any blue chip companies that have signed up for a piece of the action as of yet, despite the promised incentives that come from the city being located in the Incheon Free Enterprise Zone (IFEZ). The folks behind the development seem confident that companies will eventually come flocking to the city though, with its central location between China and Japan, and its blanket of technology, including WiFi and RFID, promising to work in its favor.
and DVB TV and WIMAX and hopefully a whole slew of new wireless standards. I just hope no babies are born with cancer from all the EM waves.
Killer EM waves!!
Don't ever venture into any sunlight will you :)
We use DMB, not DVB in Korea. Also, WiMAX is called WiBro.
Yeah, and we don't have too many EM waves, just OTA TV, FM/AM radio, CDMA 1x, EVDO, Rev A, WCDMA, HSDPA, HSUPA, WiBro, DMB, then there's the personal networks like 802.11 & Bluetooth...
... so should I get an EM shielding helmet?
"...and we don't have too many EM waves..."
Really ? Wow. Then how does all that crap you just mentioned work without Electro-Magnetic waves ?
@Oddmo:
It works by means of sarcasm.
I wonder how many Starcraft crack dens will populate the city?
There's usually at least 2+ internet cafes a 5 min walk away from wherever I am, so I'd imagine "a lot."
What about that oversized North Korean hotel that they never finished?
North Korea is Epic Fail thanks to its leader... exactly what influx of tourists and industry is going to fill that hotel.... the only industry thriving out there is human trafficking to china and other parts of Eurasia and I dont think they traffickers ask for hotel accommodations. Its really sad what is becoming of NK. I hope things start looking up but the Kim has implanted some very deep rooted propaganda into his starving people that no invasion will ever clean....
Am i the only one who cringes when they hear "RFID" after watching the movie Zeit Geist?
[ZeitGeistmovie.com]
Yes... and TPM and CCTV and European Union. etc....
Yeah word up!
Sounds very new world order.
to much order for me :)
Give me a good old fashion key anytime.
"Starcraft crack dens..." LOLz Whats their bandwidth going to look like?
Well, my connection gets throttled on weekends...
I've also stopped by a couple internet cafes (PC bangs) on the weekend. They're usually packed.
It's like Dubai for nerds.
I'm there.
I'm pulling for this since the trip from Inchon to Seoul or Suwon is miserable and they've planned for mass transit between ICN and the Songdo from the start. In fact I noticed that the line was being built the other month when I went by on the way to the airport.
Nice to see they increased the price/investment by $103 billion. I think that's typical with new home construction.
As totally cool as that sounds... I hope I never have to live in such a city where the man/borg/big brother is always looking over my shoulder... kinda freaks me out actually...
|G|
So is it going to be Tax free like Dubai??
No, they tax the hell out of everything here except for booze and cigarettes.
And hookers...oh the glorious hookers.
Seriously though, seeing as how it's going to be setup in an EPZ, corporations will be free of tax, but citizens will have to foot the bill.
can't wait...