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Jordan Serpentini Malcolm Campbell English 1102 3/28/13

Look Before You Leap How Technology Is Incorporated Around the World What does it mean to live in a different part of the world in relationship to someone else beyond location? It means that there is are and always have been will be different diverse perspectives in the world. With different perspectives perceptions brings comes comparisons and arguments along with teams and relationships between places developments and disregard for said developments. For this reason specifically, we travel the world to get a grasp of said gain unfamiliar perspectives thus broadening our worldly understanding. One of the most evident variances variations we would can witness between developed areas is the technology aspect. Technology is the most self-evident of these variances amongst developed areas. Keep in mind that I use the word developed in the sense of any place inhabited by humans. The relationship between developed areas and technology stimulated my curiosity enough to pose the question. How do developed areas use technology differently? If they even use it at all? If even used, how is technology incorporated differently around the world? As you read about what the future will bring keep this question in mind. Has anyone ever told you to look before you leap? Unquestionably, this topic is extremely extensive, but this paper aims to explore technology utilization in a unique but effective manner: Representing past, present and future technology use through modern examples.

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The most urban setting of all developed areas is city centers. There are two types of cities to think about when discussing the vision of technology in the forthcoming years: futuristic and realistic. The more universally rumored type of the two is futuristic by far. This is partially accredited to the Hollywood inspired ultramodern cities in large blockbuster films such as the Capitol from Hunger Games, the city on the grid of Tron and the future China in Cloud Atlas. These metropolises often consist of all glass skyscrapers, floating streets, hover crafts, cloud high buildings and more fugitives than citizens it seems like. The most relevant concept closest thing in todays thinking to these revolutionary cities are called smart cities. Through the combined efforts of Hans Schaffers, Nicos Komninos, Marc Pallot, Brigitte Trousse, Michael Nilsson and Alvaro Oliveira, the authors of Smart Cities and the Future Internet: Towards Cooperation Frameworks for Open Innovation, we can further understand these smart cities and why they are essential: In the early 1990s the phrase "smart city" was coined to signify how urban development was turning towards technology, innovation and globalization. The World Foundation for Smart Communities advocated the use of information technology to meet the challenges of cities within a global knowledge economy. However, the more recent interest in smart cities can be attributed to the strong concern for sustainability, and to the rise of new Internet technologies, such as mobile devices (e.g. smart phones), the semantic web, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things promoting real world user interfaces. (433)

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Simply put, smart cities are the leaders of innovation characterized by those who incorporate advancements to both create more connectivity electronically and better benefit the needs of the city. Masdar, a city near Abu Dhabi, is receiving the most attention out of all smart cities to date. According to Peter Feuilherade, a media analyst at the British Broadcasting Corporation (also referred to as the BBC),this tradition defining city has high expectations to meet after a cumulative 22 billion dollars was spent towards Masdars development alone (Feuilherade). Therefore, the city should strive for nothing less than perfection. Masdar aims to be the first completely waste free, self-sustaining, renewable energy using city ever built. (new Para.) Masdar is unlike other cities that in addition to all the above it will also be not only because of the previously mentioned, but the first city to be built solely on a platform completely banning automobiles in order to eliminate all CO2 emissions (Feuilherade). These advances are accompanied by other firsts such as a 10 Mega Watt solar power plant close by, water treatment center to reuse wastewater for landscaping safely, along with temperature efficient materials that will make up the buildings to better manage heating costs expenses, monitoring of all electrical outlets in the entire 36 kilometer city, and finally smart meters placed all over the city to record and manage energy output (Feuilherade). Masdar will be nothing short of an innovative masterpiece if everything goes according to plan, in which it should arrive upon completion in 2025. This futuristic type of an urban city euphoria mentioned above will not however be completed any time soon short of a decade. As of now, we have realistic types of cities that

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already exist where the newest developments and advancements are taking place all over the world in cities like Singapore, Amsterdam and London. They lack the visual appeal of high tech space-age technology that Masdar projects, but they are more internally sound. (New paragraph)Ludwig Siegele, the deputy international editor of the Economist sheds light on a different view of recent developments by stating smart cities of the future will not be those created from the top down, but those that have grown organically more intelligent. Cities will not look very different from how they do today, but they will operate more efficiently (Siegele). In other words, the structures of cities will be increasingly fine-tuned even though it looks as if they appears to have not physically have not changed. Take Amsterdam for instance, they coined the term smart-city platform where they test ideas that will be used in cities like Masdar on Amsterdam terrain first to ensure success (Siegele). They are already currently testing more than 30 plus ideas such as the smart meters from earlier previously mentioned and Climate Street involving extremely fast fiber optics that assist in controlling the energy of a full well-traveled street (Siegele). Thus, controlling the amount of energy allowed for use on that street according to the rate it is being used all in real time. London is also one of the trail blazing developed cities to take additions, ideas, and public opinion into account. Collectively, they make moves according to what is best for their residents. For example, a new privatized hybrid phone application called Sukey that encompasses GPS, uploading information and receiving information all in one has been developed only in London by protesters and activists alike (Geere). It helps avoid being kettled, or confined in order to try and stop protestors. City officers are often instructed to manage activists and protestors by enforcing them to reside behind barricades for several hours in hopes to disband them. The trouble with this is that those who were just passing through often

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get clustered in with protestors, which is most unfortunate if say a mother and her kids were caught in a kettle now stuck for multiple hours without any bathroom release. With this application protestor or citizens alike are able to view a map that includes red areas that symbolize a kettle in real time (Geere). In short, Sukey is a public privatized application from the UK parliament in order to aid public safety from kettles, steering people around them, and allowing activists to continue their cause of protest elsewhere (Geere). The article talks about potentially releasing the source code to activists all over the world so that they can create their own version (Geere). (new paragraph) London has similarly become the first city to decide to take control of its CO2 emissions by charging somewhat large entre fees to cars trying to enter the city during times of rush hour and congestion (Norton). It uses an automatic system that will bill a vehicle based solely on its license plate number (Norton). Those who do not comply with these charges will receive an even heftier amount to ensure a smaller carbon dioxide footprint in London. However, it is Singapore that beats out all other cities in terms of technological advancement as of now currently. Apparently, We can accredit this innovative leadership to more than just willingness. Singapore was forced to embrace the new technology due to its geographical constraints at the time (Siegele). During the early 1970s the central area came to be immensely overcrowded, this prompted them to take action by city-state announcing the premiere urban road-pricing system (Siegele). Singapore had become the first mechanically operated city in 1998 and now has an even more advanced version that includes satellites to determine the position of a vehicle in the works (Siegele). As the world frontrunners they are in technology they are also working on concepts seem that they would be were not long ago thought to be beyond our reach exponentially. Singapore is They are also in the works to develop

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what they called a real-time control system that makes use of data generated by the city to do a multitude of things (Siegele). For example, Singapore will soon be able to raise and lower the amount of taxis on duty, which means more taxis when it rains and less when the weather is nice. Creative innovations like these are constantly in the works of development and serve as a large part of todays focus in city advancement. In order to truly observe the world and how developed areas use technologies differently we must take into account the places that, like most of us, have technology at their disposal but choose not to use it due to their beliefs and traditions. Yes, you guessed it; I am talking about the Amish. They use technology differently in the respects that they do not use it at decide not to utilize it all. This fundamental civilization can be seen right in our back yard in the states. The Amish represent the ultimate reality check to the technology packed reliant path our city future will proceed down. The Amish pose the question that questions technology all together. According to Alan Krueger, an economist at Princeton University, happiness is everything. He supports this by sharing Well-being is actually the central idea of economics but weve never really tried to measure it. Weve used proxies, and weve said, If were richer, and we have more options, we must be better off. But we havent tried to find out if thats really true (Surowiecki 74). Why are we making the majority of decisions on technology off of little study and no certain long term research that can confirm the effects of a technology centered society is beneficial. that it truly makes us happiest? Have you ever been told to look before you leap? Because of the Amishs strong ties in the community, upstanding religious views, and a morally sound family for support, they Amish have a great deal to be happy about (Surowiecki 73-74). I cannot speak for all Amish, but given their nature majority find substance in physical labor and

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take pride in excellent craftsmanship which can be rather rewarding. in the simpler things because they dont have much else to truly upset or distract them. At this point we are just assuming that technological advances are in our best interest when really we are unsure if they will ultimately provide the same reward the Amish find in hard work or not. may be digging ourselves into a non-active, motionless pit of blogs and weather forecasts. James Surowiecki, an American journalist who currently writes for The New Yorker, makes mention of the hedonic adaption which means can be defined as the exhaust of all exhilaration surrounding a new concept no matter how ground breaking or spectacular a new device, discovery, or advancement is. it is only a matter of time before all of its exhilaration will be exhausted. For example, the latest IPhone will loose all hype as soon as the following IPhone is released. This idea has been experienced firsthand many times without realizing that it had been previously defined. We can easily relate this to the upcoming knowledge incorporations used in developed cities an urban setting. No matter what we come up with or invent, we are destined to take it for granted. I do not yet know if this affects us positively or negatively, but just like technology, we have not yet had the technology to properly examine the correlation long enough to know for sure. As an outcome of city-wide researching urban research development, I now more clearly understand the parameters of how technology has been dispersed variously throughout the world. The future of technology will most likely coincide with smart cities that will set strict guide lines to better preserve our earth. The leading example of this is Masdar, outside of Abu Dhabi in Dubai that plans to revolutionize the way we think about technology altogether. Today, the technological advancements are all mostly dedicated to the average citizen, such as improving the quality of life, living longer, and maintaining the delicate balance of we call personal contentment through media. happiness. We can experience these advancements firsthand in

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select cities such as London, Singapore, and Amsterdam. Keep in mind that most of these improvements in the realistic cities are attributing its internal structure and cannot be physically seen. We can experience the neglect of advancements first hand also in Amish countries societies most abundant in Wooster, Ohio. They serve as constant reminders to others to keep in mind that hard work and traditional workmanship lends reward. After all, happiness is truthfully is the key to life.

Works Cited

Feuilherade, Peter Smart cities emerge from the desert. Readperiodicals.com. Middle East. Web. 1 August 2012 Geere, Duncan. Sukey apps help protesters avoid police kettles. Wired.co.uk.Wired Magazine. 31 December 2010. Web. 31 January 2011. Norton, Leslie. Dawn of the smart cities. Barrons.com. Barrons Magazine. 1 October 2011 Web. 3 October 2011.

Siegele, Ludwig. Mining the urban data. The Economist. The World in 2013 print edition, Web. 21 November 2012. Siegele, Ludwig. "Mining the urban data." Economist.com. N.p. The World in 2013 print edition. 21 Nov. 2012. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. (picture)

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Schaffers, Hans., Komninos, Nicos., Pallot, Marc., Trousse, Brigitte., Nilsson, Michael., Oliveira, Alvaro. Smart Cities and the Future Internet: Towards Cooperation Frameworks for Open Innovation. ESoCE Net. Springer Link. Volume 6656 (2011): 431-446. Web. 22 Mar. 2013 Shelest. "Tron Legacy. City Concept." DeviantArt.com. N.p. 2009. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.(picture) Surowiecki, James. "Technology and Happiness." Technology Review 108.1 (2005): 7276. Academic Search Complete, Web. 19 March 2013.