The article here highlights Cisco's move to the forefront of the wired cities. After contracts in Dubai and nations with emerging planned cities, this project marries LEED (green) and information to hopefully produce a more sustainable city model, which in turn can be replicated in China.
Cisco's strategy as first mover into this project (rejected by LG, and replacing Microsoft) shows that Cisco is thinking about the future of information and how it will be used to better manage across the globe (think smart grids and IBM). The idea that the more information that is available should mean that the city can make better use of its resources, from energy to captured rainwater, bandwidth to people.
The developer of the city, Stan Gale, quotes Moore's law, saying that subsequent cities will be made better, faster, and cheaper.
For Cisco, this foray into urban development is a huge gamble. While it is true that information is power, is capturing every piece of data worthwhile, and will that data be able to be used effectively to really improve the city? When New Songdo goes online in 2015 (at the earliest), we may just find out.
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