The Cyber City
Introduction
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The
Blacksburg
Cyber City Model
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A local government task force recently advised its citizenry that if they were
"To succeed in a global economy based on the creation, movement, storage, retrieval and application of information our communications networks must be knitted into a seamless and powerful information infrastructure"... If they do not "match the efforts of its competitors in accelerating infrastructure development, opportunities for network, product and service development (and the resulting economic growth and new jobs will be seized by firms (and individuals) in other countries."1
This statement was made by the Cybercity Task Force of the town of Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada two years ago, but it could have easily been made by any of the cities and towns that are looking to the Internet for its economic future. While Grande Prairie has yet to fulfill its cybervision, many towns and cities around the world are sensing the IT opportunity and are developing their localities into cybercities to attract commerce and create an improved quality of life.
Defining a cybercity begins with emphasizing what it is not. It is not a city with numerous high-tech firms or a special IT incentive zone or cluster. Luring high-tech firms is often a by-product of the policy actions, and not necessarily the main feature of the initiative.
Based on the above criteria, Dubai, UAE, Richardson, Texas, and others are not cybercities because:
- Lack universal access guarantee - No WAN
- No e-government commitment/relationship change
- Broadband benefits distributed unequally
- Only outward focus
As cities located in regional crossroads, Dubai, UAE and Richardson, Texas (near Dallas) have developed their transportation strengths to become commercial hubs. Dubai has capitalized on its sea trade prowess by establishing itself as a high tech hub of the Middle East. In particular, it created Dubai Internet City (DIC) to lure high tech companies into its free trade zone.
While this hub is doubtlessly attracting such giants as Cisco, Compaq and IBM, there is no evidence that there is any activity towards broadband connectivity for all of Dubai's citizens. Nor does there seem to be a public/private partnership to craft and implement policy and effect quality of life issues.2
Richardson, Texas also uses tax abatements and cheap labor to lure communications firms. But while these companies are benefiting handsomely from this environment, there is no evidence of any actions made to improve the technical infrastructure for individual citizens or move toward the goal of universal broadband access. The town's e-business goals seem to end with the acquisition of new companies. Nothing in its literature seems to recommend a commitment to change the technical relationship with its citizens.3
Our research defines it as a city that has set public policy goals to empower its citizens to have access to the global information network and is using public/private partnerships to achieve these goals. Some analysts also call cybercities "community networks".
Among the most common reasons that cities decide to become cybercities are:
Gridlock
In a major speech to the 2000 World Congress on Information Technology, Taipei's mayor noted that his city's traffic problems dwarf those of most Asian cities. With 2.6 million residents on only 27 square kilometers, the number of vehicles per km road is 1,058.4 Such space restrictions necessitate the city exploit its non-physical assets. Thus, commerce that generates wealth but doesn't contribute to traffic or pollution is highly desired. Cybercity features can meet these needs.
Social Equity Policy
The cities featured here viewed the Internet and its wealth of information as the new currency of the realm. Access to the goods, services, jobs and wealth which are available on the net are viewed as a basic right for residents, like any other legal right. It also serves as a means of "leveling the playing field" of education and economic opportunity.
Competitive Advantage
Like rival neighbors, cities try to compete on a number of factors. As cities increasingly view other cities as competitors for jobs and investment, they attempt to entice investors to bring capital to them. Many of these forward-thinking cities have made investments in technological infrastructures in hopes of attracting SMEs. Both a successful economy and local investment are usually required to make a city a successful competitor.
Population Shifts
Across the globe, small towns are losing population to urban areas. To counteract this loss, some towns are investing in cyber-infrastructure as a way of both keeping jobs and keeping young people. Modalen is a perfect example of this. It is a small town with no higher secondary or above educational opportunities to offer, nor many jobs not associated with hydroelectric power generation. A town like Blacksburg, Virginia capitalizes on its ties with its land-grant university and its universal broadband access as a means of improving the quality of life for their most mobile residents.5
Government Relations
Governments are increasingly called upon to justify their expenditures to voters. If "good government is good politics", then leaders who are viewed as visionary and bringing new services to constituents will be viewed favorably. Government that is smaller, more efficient, and responsive is the ideal, and cities like Hong Kong are using a WAN to communicate with residents, conduct business, promote commerce, reduce traffic, and increase efficiency.6
Typical features of a cybercity include the following:
- Universal citizen access (most important goal)
- Cooperative sharing of networking facilities between schools, libraries, hospitals and other government institutions
- Improved government management and operation/improved citizen responsiveness
- Improved workforce effectiveness through better education and training
- Closer community/government/business relations through online access
- Improved quality of life for residents (less gridlock, more communication)
- Extensive broadband infrastructure
Based on these criteria the following are likely to be true cybercities:
- Taipei, Taiwan (ROC)
- Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
- Hong Kong, China
- Singapore
- Modalen, Norway
Diffusion
Like most Asian cities, Taipei, Hong Kong and Singapore have recently sought benefits from the high tech industry. They began by deregulating their telecoms to encourage competition. Hong Kong describes their telecom infrastructure as "world class", while Blacksburg, Virginia's could be categorized as "pioneering". In 1999, the town had the highest per capita Internet use in the world. It also was the first to use the Internet for a WAN.7 All the cities examined in this project adopted policies that would make the use of the internet an integral part of their society. They see connectivity not as a means of overriding their culture, but of enhancing it, and ensuring that their society sustains into the future e-world. These characteristics confirm that high Internet usage, extensive telecom development and training/education are necessary prerequisites to achieving cybercity status.
E-Commerce
For a true cybercity, e-commerce proves to be a by-product or a side goal, and not the main purpose of the community. Blacksburg's e-commerce started in 1994 with a floral delivery service began taking orders on line. E-commerce in Hong Kong is fueled by venture capital funds with extra cash and by a shrewd oligopoly of property tycoons who still control much of the island's economy. They are creating startups such as on-line grocery services, MP3 Internet music companies, and Chinese herbal medicine dealers.8
While Hong Kong pursues e-commerce to generate wealth, Taipei promotes e-commerce as a way to reduce gridlock. "Citizens no longer have to spend time on the road running errands or even commuting to work", claims its mayor. While this lofty goal has yet to be achieved, the local government is working towards this end.9
Source: Current State of Play, Australian National Office for Information Technology, November 2000
Singapore also wishes to reduce vehicular traffic in the city, but that is not the main reason for its attention to e-commerce. The city already had an IT industry, but realized that if it were to move from manufacturing to content provider, then technology had to be a part of life. So while the Singapore government is concerned with using connectivity to improve the lives of its citizens, it also wishes to use this connectivity as a spring-board to higher levels of e-commerce.
One of Modalen's main reasons for the cybercity initiative is to keep the young people. In order to keep the youth from going out into the world, Modalen needs to bring the world to the youth. This means connection to the internet and access to all the goods it offers.
