Title: Urban u-community: a new dimension of urban development

Authors: Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko

Addresses: Department of Regional Studies, FIN-33014 University of Tampere, Finland

Abstract: The objective of this article is to provide an overview of recent urban u-community development. The original English term |ubiquitous| comes from the Latin, meaning |existing everywhere|. It first became widely used in the IT field after Mark Weiser coined a term |ubiquitous computing| in the late 1980s. Due to the internet revolution and more recent developments in ubiquitous technology, the perspective started to shift from ubiquity of computing capabilities to ubiquity of network access and connections, which has led to the introduction of such concept as |ubiquitous community| and |ubiquitous city|. The most important aspect of emerging urban u-communities is expected to be the new forms of interaction and transaction that are possible anywhere and at any time due to the utilisation of networks and applications based on ubiquitous technologies. Ubiquity does not only allow flexible interaction but also the new level of community informatics, paving the way for intelligent u-communities.

Keywords: ubiquitous technology; u-community; u-city; wireless cities; mobile city; u-region; urban development; networks; ubiquitous communities; ubiquitous cities; intelligent communities; community informatics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIRD.2009.022733

International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development, 2009 Vol.1 No.4, pp.464 - 483

Published online: 25 Jan 2009 *

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