Managing ubiquitous eco cities: the role of urban telecommunication infrastructure networks and convergence technologies

A successful urban management system for a Ubiquitous Eco City requires an integrated approach. This integration includes bringing together economic, socio-cultural and urban development with a well orchestrated, transparent and open decision making mechanism and necessary infrastructure and technologies. Rapidly developing information and telecommunication technologies and their platforms in the late 20th Century improves urban management and enhances the quality of life and place. Telecommunication technologies provide an important base for monitoring and managing activities over wired, wireless or fibre-optic networks. Particularly technology convergence creates new ways in which the information and telecommunication technologies are used. The 21st Century is an era where information has converged, in which people are able to access a variety of services, including internet and location based services, through multi-functional devices such as mobile phones and provides opportunities in the management of Ubiquitous Eco Cities. This paper discusses the recent developments in telecommunication networks and trends in convergence technologies and their implications on the management of Ubiquitous Eco Cities and how this technological shift is likely to be beneficial in improving the quality of life and place. The paper also introduces recent approaches on urban management systems, such as intelligent urban management systems, that are suitable for Ubiquitous Eco Cities

Potential Growth in the EU : Prospects from Technical Progress and Eastern Enlargment.

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Technologie en innovatie in Vlaanderen: Prioriteiten.

Vlaanderen;

Steps towards a deeper economic integration: the internal market in the 21st century

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of the implementation of the Internal Market Programme and to propose ideas on how its potential can be better exploited. First, the paper offers a broader perspective to the analysis of the Internal Market by exploring its close links to the rapidly changing economic environment. Second, it puts together a comprehensive body of empirical evidence, based on the analysis of trade, FDI, M&A, prices and regulation data, which allows for a thorough stock taking exercise of what has been achieved in terms of European economic integration. Thirdly, it analyses the remaining barriers to the completion of the Internal Market while presenting a critical review of the adequacy of the instruments that have been used so far. Overall the paper concludes that the Internal Market is a powerful instrument to promote economic integration and to increase competition within the EU and that it has been the source of large macro-economic benefits. However, these gains could have been substantially larger if the removal of most of the remaining cross-border barriers was achieved.European economy, economic integration, Internal Market, micro-economic reforms, Ilzkovitz, Dierx, Kovacs, Sousa

Building consensus on Internet access at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF)

This paper identifies and documents the main areas of discussions and 'recommendations' that were generated under the Access theme at the second Internet Governance Forum in Rio De Janeiro, November 2007. Whilst recognising that the IGF is currently viewed and operates primarily as a space for discussion, the paper finds that (specifically in the case of Access) it is also a space in which commonality of opinion occurs to the level at which 'recommendations' can be made and repeatedly asserted independently/individually in the workshops, and strategically reinforced at different levels of the IGF. The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a space for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue, set up in 2006 as a direct response to the deliberations of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The forum was created to (amongst other things) discuss public policy issues related to key elements of internet governance in order to foster the sustainability, robustness, security, stability and development of the internet. Its structure, function and working are addressed in paragraphs 73 to 79 of the WSIS Tunis Agenda