Interested in Korean history, Incheon, and Songdo IBD? ‘Tis the season, so a high quality complimentary web version of the pictorial history book is available online. Click Here. The book was crafted bilingual, Korean and English.
Archive for Don Southerton
Chemulpo to Songdo IBD: Korea’s International Gateway
International School Songdo: A Global Model for 21st Education
By Don Southerton, Songdo IBD CityTalk Editor and Chief Blogger
Songdo IBD’s master plan recognized that world class education was vital. In turn, International School Songdo (ISS) was built to set a new standard for education–embracing true 21st century pedagogy and Classroom 2.0 mindset. Today that vision is reality, the school and its staff sharing this vision with educators globally. In fact, the school is in the fore front of virtual/ web based learning–strongly supported by Cisco and Cisco Webex technology.
This new video, hosted by ISS headmaster Dr. Jorge Nelson, shares ISS’s vision.
Songdo IBD and Cisco: City of the Future Partners
By Don Southerton, Songdo IBD CityTalk Editor and Chief Blogger
Songdo IBD and Cisco are a great fit. I support both. This Economic Times article shares “Why” Cisco is investing heavy in the project.
Technoholik: Can Delhi ever be an Incheon?
23 Oct 2009, 0544 hrs IST, Abhimanyu Radhakrishnan, ET Bureau
When the folks at Cisco called up last month, inviting me to cover a conference on ‘Sustainable Cities of the Future’ in Incheon, South Korea, I was a bit confused. Firstly, why in the world was a company that mainly makes routers and switches hosting an urban issues conference mainly for Mayoral delegations from around the world?
Secondly, why did they think Technoholik would be interested? Well, it seems that Cisco sees itself as an “infrastructure” company and they want to expand the definition of that word – which brings roads, bridges, buildings and electricity to mind – to include IT as a fundamental component. I was still skeptical, but when they assured me that there would actually be live demos, it seemed like it could make interesting viewing for our television show on ET NOW.
Cisco had chosen Seoul’s twin city as the showcase since Incheon was rebuilding itself for the 2014 Asian Games (it incidentally pipped Delhi in the final round of voting). On arriving at Incheon airport, which serves as Seoul’s international airport as well, my mind began to race. How did the city that I had just arrived from, even think that it stood a chance?
The already modern city of Incheon wasn’t just upgrading – it was building an entire new district called Songdo , largely reclaimed from the sea, as part of a new Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) to take advantage of its imminent fame as Asian Games host.
The advantage of building from scratch of course, is that they can incorporate the kind of futuristic tech that folks like Cisco are hoping will be a part of every major city in the near future. We’re not talking about flying cars. But if your traffic lights and electric grid are on a network, while your automobile number plates have smart tags embedded, cities can save power by switching off street lights when no cars are on certain parts of the road. Plumbing and gas lines can be maintained better with sensors while energy consumption can be monitored and optimised .
Lets take buildings as another example. At the construction stage itself along with laying ducts for electricity and gas, builders of the future will lay network cables and sensors into the steel and concrete itself. One such developer in Songdo, GALE International , actually had a ‘wired’ building up and running, which was entirely IP-enabled .
The resident could control every light switch, door, security camera, window shade and appliance from a set of touchscreen panels in the house. This wasn’t just for convenience – the main draw was the ability to see how much energy the apartment was consuming (and more importantly , wasting) so that adjustments could be made by allowing natural light and heat using window shades, switching off parts of the central AC, and turning off unused power sources. This was being done both for individual dwellings and for common areas of the building.
The “media room” of course had a videoconferencing unit (Cisco’s high-end “TelePresence” system, what else!) built into the large-screen home theatre. The interesting thing was that one could access various services via the large LCD TV in a sort of “municipal app store” way. One could dial in and videochat with the local police department , the school, civic services, supermarkets or just browse the interactive options they offered.
Cisco in fact hopes to convince cities that such an approach could actually generate additional revenue apart from providing basic services more efficiently. You can see this futuristic building and some more examples of urban tech from Incheon on the Technoholik show this weekend! In fact my two days in Incheon seemed even more of a mirage of sorts, these past few weeks, as I scanned the papers and our lack of preparedness for the Commonwealth Games dominated the headlines. But a glimmer of hope came from one of those headlines when I read that Sam Pitroda had been appointed advisor of Cabinet Rank to the Prime Minister on, get this, Infrastructure, Innovation and Information! Our wired future hopefully, ain’t that far away!
Incheon Bridge to Open: 4 Years and 4 Months in the Making
Incheon Bridge
The long awaited opening of the Incheon Bridge will have tremendous impact on Songdo IBD and the region. The soft opening is this week. (Last weekend the Bridge hosted a marathon for 30,000 runners).
Choson Ilbo notes,
Incheon Bridge to Open Friday
The Incheon Bridge is to be officially opened on Friday[October 16], four years and four months after construction began.
The bridge connects the Songdo International Business District in the Incheon Free Economic Zone and Yeongjongdo, where Incheon International Airport is located.
To celebrate the opening of the bridge, Incheon city and the Chosun Ilbo co-host a walking tour on Saturday. Vehicles are allowed from Monday.
The bridge at 21.38 km is the country’s longest and the world’s seventh longest. Among cable-stayed bridges, it is the world’s fifth longest bridge.
International School Songdo, Classroom 2.0 and Cisco Webex Technology
Classroom 2.0 Virtual Q & A (ISS Director of Curriculum James Kelly)
By Don Southerton, Songdo IBD CityTalk Editor and Chief Blogger
Songdo IBD’s vision for the future includes intergrating people and technology. Recently International School Songdo educators benefitted from Cisco Webex technology. Conducted by Bridging Culture Worldwide CEO Don Southerton an interactive virtual classroom ( Classroom 2.0) workshop discussed Korean eduction and its strong ties to the workplace. Following a short lecture, Southerton and the group of veteran educators engaged in virtual Q & A.
ISS Korean Culture Training and Cisco Webex Technology Video
Chemulpo to Songdo IBD Author Featured in Korean American Magazine
By Don Southerton, Songdo IBD CityTalk Editor and Chief Blogger
I was very pleased with a recent Korean language article in San Diego Korean American Community Magazine. The 2 page spread highlights Chemulpo to Songdo IBD: Korea’s International Gateway, which was released in August. The book has been very well received by the Korean community, both in Korea and abroad. A high quality complimentary web version of the pictorial history book is available online. Click Here.
(Click to view in full format)
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- Author Don Southerton
Songdo IBD: Green and Hi-tech
Songdo Garbage Disposal System
By Don Southerton, Songdo IBD CityTalk Editor and Chief Blogger
Songdo IBD continues to draw much attention. Its Green and eco-friendly technology interests many. For example this Joongang Ilbo article shares some of the city’s eco-friendly features.
The article notes among other cutting edge technologies the city’s automatic garbage gathering system.
Songdo International Business Complex has been chosen for the LEED-ND pilot project, an environmental grading system for buildings run by the U.S. Green Building Council. It is the highest environmental certification available for a building, and the entire city of 5.72 million square meters has been selected, reflecting its eco-friendly construction. Songdo is the largest single LEED-ND pilot project outside North America.
To receive the LEED-ND certificate, which no city has ever received before, Songdo International City will compete with other cities.
When graded according to the LEED system, Songdo International City hopes to rank at silver. For individual buildings in Songdo, the Northeast Asia Trade Tower, a landmark of the city, is also aiming for silver. If it succeeds in that goal, it will be the first and only building to do so in Korea.
The U-Life Complex building, which will serve as the Asian headquarters of Gale International Korea, is aiming for the highest level: platinum.
Meanwhile, Korea’s first eco friendly seawater “road” connecting the center of a city directly to the sea, is now under construction. The canal, to be built through Songdo’s 400,000-square-meter Central Park, will pump seawater into the city, a first for Korea.
The seawater will fill a 4.8-kilometer canal starting at the western water treatment plant in the business complex. Filling it up with seawater instead of fresh water minimizes the environmental disturbance due to the ultimate discharge into the Yellow Sea, while a double filtration system eliminates the need for chemical purifiers.
Automatic garbage collection will make use of underground conveyers inside pipelines, with automatic sorting, compression and dehydration – no garbage trucks required. If people follow the guidelines to dispose of their trash, the entire system can run cleanly and efficiently, contributing to a more pleasant city life.
The pipeline network will cost 390 billion won to build and will be finished by 2020, when it will be the largest of its kind in Korea.
Forbes Magazine Highlights Songdo IBD Smart Urban Community
Songdo IBD Central Park
By Don Southerton, Songdo IBD CityTalk Editor and Chief Blogger
Songdo IBD continues to draw global attention. This recent Forbes magazine article points out the strong technology partnerships (CISCO, UT, and 3M) Gale International and the Songdo IBD project have attracted.
Very Smart Cities by Elizabeth Woyke,
SONGDO, SOUTH KOREA –
John B. Hynes III got the jitters when he first spied the mudflats of Songdo, South Korea, in June 2001. How would he transform the expanse of muck into a smart urban center with an integrated network of utility, transportation, real estate and recreation systems?
Eight years and 82 globe-crossing flights later, Hynes is far more assured about Songdo’s prospects. The man-made island, 40 miles southwest of Seoul, is now dotted with more than 100 buildings, including a 7,800-person apartment complex, a massive convention center and a Sheraton hotel.
Hynes’ employer, New York-based real estate developer Gale International, estimates the 1,500-acre city is 40% underway. Completion is slated for 2014. The cost: $35 billion, making it perhaps the world’s largest private real estate venture in history.
Songdo’s backers, which include Gale, Morgan Stanley and Korean steelmaker Posco, are betting the city can become a northeast Asia trade hub, linking nearby Shanghai and Tokyo. It will also be a model for a new Gale project, Meixi Lake, to be built in China’s Hunan Province starting later this year. Both cities will be “smart, sustainable and technologically ambitious,” says company Chairman Stanley C. Gale.
To conform to the U.S. Green Building Council’s energy-efficient LEED standards, Songdo buildings are incorporating special window glazing and ventilated double facades. Greywater and rain will be collected for irrigation and use in cooling towers. A network of underground pneumatic pipes will move solid waste, reducing the need for garbage trucks.
Songdo is also a petri dish for green transportation schemes. Water taxis already zip along the city’s seawater canals. Soon, a citywide bike rental service modeled on Paris’ Velibre system and a car-share system will be added. Buses powered by fuel-cells are expected within the next two to three years.
With its more than 40% green space, including a $220 million park, the city is designed to feel as airy as Vancouver. (Gale estimates Songdo will eventually house 65,000 residents and 300,000 workers.) Hynes is particularly proud of the park, which is dubbed Central Park after the New York City landmark. “Convincing the government and our partners that 100 acres of prime land should be reserved for a park was a tough sell,” he notes.
Meixi Lake will be helmed by the same architects–Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates and Arup–and follow a similar philosophy, but with a 400-acre lake instead of a park.
Data networks developed by Cisco are key to both projects. The company plans to deploy video networking technology and energy management software tools city-wide and meld municipal systems, such as education, health care, transportation and hospitality into a common network. Wim Elfrink, Cisco’s chief globalization officer, says Cisco has identified 20 services that could be linked, but will start with six or seven. The company declined to specify its investment in Songdo, but says it has committed $2 billion to South Korean projects over the next three to five years.
Residents will be able to chat with their children’s teachers, consult doctors and apply for city permits and licenses via flat screen monitors in their apartments. Buildings will be intelligent enough to guide cars to available parking spots and queue up elevators as people approach. Hotels will recognize regular guests and automatically adjust room system settings.
The projects leverage Cisco’s earlier work with schools, stadiums and utility grids. “All our expertise is coming together in Songdo,” says Elfrink. Like Gale, Cisco views Songdo as a model it can replicate around the world. It plans to build a global center for “intelligent urbanization” in Songdo and work on 10 similar projects in places like India and Saudi Arabia over the next two years. “It’s an adjacent business we expect a lot from,” says Elfrink.
United Technologies and 3M are also providing technology to Songdo and Meixi Lake. 3M is making digital signs and “stick-on film” to be used throughout both cities. UTC is providing energy-saving elevators and water-cooled air conditioning units designed to cut energy use by 20%.
Despite all the talent involved, building Songdo has hardly been a smooth path. As a city designed and constructed with private financing by a foreign company, Songdo has few precedents. Tying together people’s home, work and civic lives online has required new regulations. “This is an entirely new industry,” says Cisco’s Elfrink. “We have new questions to answer.”
Permit delays pushed the opening of Songdo’s flagship commercial building, the $500 million Northeast Asia Trade Tower, from December to late summer 2010. Gale says the building’s mixed-use nature–a combination of retail, commercial and residential space that is unusual in Korea–was the main reason for the hold-up and that all necessary permits have now been obtained.
Gale also tussled with the Korean government over a rule that the majority of students in Songdo’s International School be non-Korean–a challenge when most current Songdo residents are Korean nationals. Gale says the issue has been resolved and the school will open this September for grades kindergarten through six.
Gale is currently focusing on luring corporations to Songdo under the theory that people follow jobs. The project will be a success, says Hynes, when Songdo is full and the areas around it are “buzzing.”
Hynes isn’t expecting to see a return on Gale’s billions for two to three years. First he has to finish covering the mudflats.
Cisco TP 3000 and International School Songdo
By Don Southerton, Songdo IBD CityTalk Editor and Chief Blogger
On Saturday August 22 PST (Sunday August 23 in Korea) from Cisco’s Irvine, CA offices, I shared an amazing experience with a team of new Korea-based International School Songdo ISS) educators. My work centers on training and coaching executives and teams on Korean culture, norms, history, and expectations. I was thrilled to use Cisco’s TP 3000 telepresence technology to provide the new ISS team with insights into Korea and Songdo IBD.The training session aligned with both Songdo IBD core value as an ubiquitous city, and ISS as a model for Classroom 2.0 education. (For more information of ISS teaching model see Headmaster Dr. Jorge Nelson’s December 2008 comments of Learning- centric teaching).
Cruising Together: Gale International and POSCO E&C
By Don Southerton, Songdo IBD CityTalk Editor and Chief Blogger
On my recent trip to Songdo IBD, I attended and participated in a number of events. The unveiling of the Gale International–POSCO E&C whales’ statue was memorable. It commemorates the strong partnership between NYC-based Gale International and Korea-based POSCO E & C. Among the Korean and American VIPs and officials on hand at the unveiling were a number of Gale International chairman Stan Gale’s family, friends, and long time business colleagues–many in Korea for the first time. Gale noted in his speech the importance of family and building strong long lasting ties–stressing his family’s long business roots. Moreover, Gale stressed the strong bond between America and Korea, and Gale International and its partner POSCO. Significantly, the statue’s whales showcase both Gale and POSCO maritime roots.
Some details…
Huntington, NY… August 13, 2009… What is a familiar image to residents of Long Island’s North Shore—the Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty whale logo, is getting a whole new audience in the Far East.
A commemorative statue, “Cruising Together,” depicting two whales spanning the globe, has been installed in South Korea’s Songdo International Business District, an emerging urban center developed by Gale International and POSCO E & C. Stanley C. Gale, grandson of the founder of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty, is the Chairman of Gale International.
The statue, which was installed in Songdo’s Central Park, is modeled after the first and current Daniel Gale Sotheby’s whale logos, and symbolizes the unique partnership and friendship Gale International and Posco E&C have achieved over the course of this project.
“The Gale family and its associated businesses, Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty included, have a history of being at the forefront of new ideas and opportunities,” said Patricia Petersen, President and CEO of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty. “This latest accomplishment reflects and honors that tradition, and presents another yet another unique opportunity for real estate buyers and investors around the world to be aware of what Long Island, and Daniel Gale Sotheby’s, has to offer.”
The Songdo International Business District, roughly the size of downtown Boston, is being constructed on reclaimed land near Inchon, South Korea, an easy flight from China and other rapidly developing areas of Northeast Asia. Begun in 2002, Songdo represents a $35 billion city-within-a-city near Seoul’s international airport. It is one of the world’s largest commercial developments.
The statue, constructed of bronze, is 18 ft in length, 15.7 ft in width and 20 ft in height, and was made by Han Jeong-ho, Head of Soto Design Architect and Lee Young-song, a famous Korean artist.
Founded in 1922, Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty consistently leads the nation in achieving one of the highest average sales prices in the country.