The Advancement of World Digital Cities

Abstract

This chapter reviews the advancement of several worldwide activities on regional information spaces empowered by advanced technologies. In the US and Canada, a large number of community networks supported by grass root activi- ties appeared in the early 1990s. In Europe, more than one hundred digital cities have been tried, often supported by local government, central government and EU in the name of local digitalization. Asian countries have actively adopted the latest information technologies as a part of national initiatives. As a platform for com- munity networks, information spaces interacting with local city information and digital data have been developed worldwide with the help of advanced information technologies such as sensor, information terminals, broadband network andwireless network. Current digital cities are often characterized by a combination of several goals including community digitalization, community revitalization, and technology testing. In the past 15 years since the first stage of digital cities, the development of the original digital cities has leveled off or stabilized. Currently active digital cities are deeply rooted in the daily life of citizens and are appreciated mainly due to their community services rather than their technological sophistication as in the early days. In addition, many new activities have emerged. A wide range of commercial virtual communities and social networks has been established. Also local hospi- tals, libraries and schools have been equipped with cutting edge digital environment technologies. Seen from the advancement of digital cities, these new developments often benefit from the previous activities on regional information spaces.