History of the Korean miracle: how for 10 years to turn a dirty swamp in the most technologically advanced city in the world

According to recent UN reports, is now live in cities 56% of the world population. And most major metropolitan areas has barely handle the load on your system in the first place - transport and energy. It is not hard to imagine what awaits us in 2050, and the total number of people on the planet will exceed 9 billion when projected all the same United Nations, the urban population will increase to 70%. But there is a solution. To help mankind concept comes.

What the hell is a "smart city"?

When we speak of "smart city", we mean a city that actively uses technology in many different ways to operate more efficiently. A city best suits the needs of their residents and literally adapts to them. All this implies a deep integration of modern information technologies in all urban services and their full co-ordination with each other.

But these are just dry theory. And in practice? Today in the world in various stages of readiness there are several cities that, without exaggeration, be called "intelligent." And it's not about the individual process clusters such as "Skolkovo" or "Silicon Valley". These are the real city with all the accompanying infrastructure. One of them, namely the Korean city of Songdo, we want to tell.

The history of the Korean miracle

Around the mid-90s, when the world did not know of the dotcom crash and global financial crises, and new technologies are gradually began to penetrate into all spheres of life, suddenly it turned out to be a very popular concept for the future of cities. Rich private companies, one after another began to invest in the construction of such projects. Was no exception and the giant South Korean industry Daewoo, decided to build the most intelligent city in the world on a large artificial island. But the construction did not last long, due to the bankruptcy of the company it had to be frozen at the initial stage. And in 1999, the project bought out the American Gale International and South Korea's POSCO E & C. And later, as an investor and joined a bank holding company Morgan Stanley.

The official start of the project was given in 2001, when the shareholders were able to accumulate on its needs about $ 35 billion. This amount is automatically made Songdo most expensive private project in real estate in history. It took several years for the development and planning. As a result, the construction itself was started only in 2005. A first units were delivered in 2009. They were 12-kilomterovy bridge connecting the Songdo with Incheon Airport and Exhibition Center Songdo Convensia, the design of which was obviously inspired by the Sydney Opera House.

originally planned to finish construction by 2016, but the different situations in the world economy and then makes its own adjustments to the plan. As a result of the change was postponed to 2025. However, this does not mean that Songdo City is a ghost town. On the contrary, there are already living and working people quite successfully. In 2012 the city's population numbered 22,000 people, and now there is a population of about 90,000 inhabitants. A few thousand daily come to Songdo from the mainland to work. It is planned that by the end of construction of the city's population will be more than 250 thousand people and more 200-300 thousand will come to work.

The city itself is focused on the ultimate rejection of the inhabitants of personal transport. Firstly: it was originally designed so that at any point it can be reached in 15 minutes by bike. Secondly: in 25 kilometers of paved bicycle paths. And for the city area of ​​6 square kilometers it is quite good. Well and thirdly: in excellent public transport system - buses, there is even a subway, which connects it to the mainland. Oh, and if for some reason you still are not ready to give up your own car - the city is encouraging opt for modern vehicles on alternative energy sources. To this end, throughout the territory, there are countless charging stations for hybrid and electric vehicles, as well as free parking, 95% of which are located underground.

The single "brain" of this city

Naturally, the participants in the construction of Songdo is not only the above-mentioned companies engaged in real estate and communications. One of the key partners of the new "smart city" - all known Cisco. They were placed in Songdo thousands of various sensors literally everything, wherever possible. Every square centimeter of the city turned out to be connected to a single network, and the information with them flock to the central control unit. There will be analyzed absolutely everything: congestion, energy demand, the state of underground communications, the number of cars and pedestrians at each stage of the journey.

Energy Efficiency

Songdo - not just "smart", but also incredibly energy efficient city. For example, street and road lighting, thanks all the same sensors, capable to adapt to the needs of citizens: the system automatically turns off the light where at the moment there are no people or cars, and makes brightly where a lot of them. Of course, that absolutely all residential, office and industrial premises in the city are made of "smart house" standards. At any given time, no matter where you are, you can remotely control your iron, microwave and air conditioning. All the windows in the city are made of glass with a low coefficient of thermal conductivity, and all lighting is built with LEDs.

Innovation

City adapted maximally efficient use of all available resources. For example, the waste hot water is used for space heating, wastewater is treated with special filters and used for watering of parks and enterprises, reduces vegetation on roofs stormwater and uses the sun's heat for photosynthesis and cooling the surrounding air. And the usual for us garbage collection in Songdo not at all. All household waste, and wet and dry, in a pneumatic tube are delivered immediately to the recycling station. As a result, in no dumpsters or garbage trucks. All these innovations have reduced energy consumption by 30% in each building, and consumption of clean water in Songdo and does 10 times less than a conventional city.

As a result, in just 10 years, this artificial island from a dirty swamp turned into one of the most promising and without doubt the most efficient city in the world. Songdo environmentally friendly, technologically equipped, comfortable for living and working. Plus everything else and very well located geographically: a third of the world's population is within three hours flight from Songdo. And most importantly - this is not some fantasy, it's reality. City living, growing, its population is constantly increasing. Here it is, the future of the world.

Apartments in Songdo are selling quite active. Prices - at the usual big cities. But in a life of comfort issue Songdo will handicap any other city in Europe and America.