eprintid: 10176718 rev_number: 13 eprint_status: archive userid: 699 dir: disk0/10/17/67/18 datestamp: 2023-09-15 10:14:18 lastmod: 2024-02-06 10:31:59 status_changed: 2023-09-15 10:14:18 type: article metadata_visibility: show sword_depositor: 699 creators_name: Huh, Jeongwha creators_name: Son, Jung Won creators_name: Zhao, Yang creators_name: Yang, Seongwon title: Who built the "world's first smart city" of Songdo? Questioning the ICT firms' Leadership in Smart City Development ispublished: inpress divisions: UCL divisions: B04 divisions: C04 divisions: F39 keywords: Smart city, Songdo international business district, South Korea, building provision structure, role of developer note: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions. abstract: The media often depicts major information and technology (ICT) firms, such as IBM, Google, and Cisco, as the principal driving forces of smart city development. However, we argue that traditional urban development actors, such as real estate developers and national and local governments, play larger roles. ICT firms have limitations as leaders of major smart city development because of two important factors: 1) financially, the ICT budget is merely a small portion of the total greenfield smart city development budget, and 2) the ICT product lifespans are much shorter than that of the built environment. We explain how these two issues cause several practical problems that are obstacles to ICT firms taking charge of major smart city development. To this end, we refer to findings from an in-depth case study of the Songdo International Business District, which some have dubbed “the world’s first smart city,” allegedly built by Cisco. date: 2023-09-30 date_type: published publisher: Bellwether official_url: https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2024.2309879 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 2085175 doi: 10.1080/15387216.2024.2309879 lyricists_name: Son, Jung Won lyricists_id: JWSON04 actors_name: Son, Jung Won actors_id: JWSON04 actors_role: owner funding_acknowledgements: ES/W011190/1 [Economic and Social Research Council] full_text_status: public publication: Eurasian Geography and Economics issn: 1538-7216 citation: Huh, Jeongwha; Son, Jung Won; Zhao, Yang; Yang, Seongwon; (2023) Who built the "world's first smart city" of Songdo? Questioning the ICT firms' Leadership in Smart City Development. Eurasian Geography and Economics 10.1080/15387216.2024.2309879 <https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2024.2309879>. (In press). Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10176718/7/Son_Who%20built%20Songdo%20%20the%20%20world%20s%20first%20smart%20city.pdf