Ubiquitous infrastructure : urban infrastructure planning and management experience of Korea

Urban infrastructure development in Korea has recently shifted from an old paradigm of conventional infrastructure planning to a new paradigm of intelligent infrastructure provision. This new paradigm, so called ubiquitous infrastructure, is based on a combination of urban infrastructure, information and communication technologies and digital networks. Ubiquitous infrastructure basically refers to an urban infrastructure where any citizen could access any infrastructure and services via any electronic device regardless of time and location. This paper introduces this new paradigm of intellectual infrastructure planning and its design schemes. The paper also examines the ubiquitous infrastructure development in Korea and discusses the positive effects of ubiquitous infrastructure on sustainable urban development.

Sustainable urban and regional infrastructure development : technologies, applications and management

Sustainable Urban and Regional Infrastructure Development: Technologies, Applications and Management, bridges the gap in the current literature by addressing the overall problems present in society's major infrastructures, and the technologies that may be applied to overcome these problems. It focuses on ways in which energy intensive but 'invisible' (to the general public) facilities can become green or greener. The studies presented re lessons to be learnt from our neighbors and from our own backyard, and provide an excellent general overview of the issues facing us all.

Urban telecommunications network : technology convergence and urban infrastructure

Rapidly developing information and telecommunication technologies and their platforms in the late 20th Century helped improve urban infrastructure management and influenced quality of life. Telecommunication technologies make it possible for people to deliver text, audio and video material using wired, wireless or fibre-optic networks. Technologies convergence amongst these digital devices continues to create 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. This chapter discusses the recent developments in telecommunication networks and trends in convergence technologies, their implications for urban infrastructure planning, and for the quality of life of urban residents.

Regional and urban air quality modelling under a climate change scenario

The better understanding of the interactions between climate change and air quality is an emerging priority for research and policy. Climate change will bring changes in the climate system, which will affect the concentration and dispersion of air pollutants. The main objective of the current study is to assess the impacts of climate change on air quality in 2050 over Portugal and Porto urban area. First, an evaluation and characterization of the air quality over mainland Portugal was performed for the period between 2002 and 2012. The results show that NO2, PM10 and O3 are the critical pollutants in Portugal. Also, the influence of meteorology on O3, NO2 and PM10 levels was investigate in the national main urban areas (Porto and Lisboa) and was verified that O3 has a statistically significant relationship with temperature in most of the components. The results also indicate that emission control strategies are primary regulators for NO2 and PM10 levels. After, understanding the national air quality problems and the influence that meteorology had in the historical air quality levels, the air quality modelling system WRF-CAMx was tested and the required inputs for the simulations were prepared to fulfil the main goal of this work. For the required air quality modelling inputs, an Emission Projections under RCP scenarios (EmiPro-RCP) model was developed to assist the estimation of future emission inventories for GHG and common air pollutants. Also, the current emissions were estimated for Portugal with a higher detailed disaggregation to improve the performance of the air quality simulations. The air quality modelling system WRF/CAMx was tested and evaluated over Portugal and Porto urban area and the results point out that is an adequate tool for the analysis of air quality under climate change. For this purpose, regional simulations of air quality during historical period and future (2045-2050) were conducted with CAMx version 6.0 to evaluate the impacts of simulated future climate and anthropogenic emission projections on air quality over the study area. The climate and the emission projections were produced under the RCP8.5 scenario. The results from the simulations point out, that if the anthropogenic emissions keep the same in 2050, the concentrations of NO2, PM10 and O3 will increase in Portugal. When, besides the climate change effects, is consider the projected anthropogenic emissions the annual mean concentrations of NO2 decrease significantly in Portugal and Porto urban area, and on the contrary the annual mean PM10 concentrations increases in Portugal and decrease in Porto urban area. The O3 results are mainly caused by the reduction of ozone precursors, getting the higher reductions in urban areas and increases in the surrounding areas. All the analysis performed for both simulations for Porto urban area support that, for PM10 and O3, there will be an increase in the occurrence of extreme values, surpassing the annual legislated parameters and having more daily exceedances. This study constitutes an innovative scientific tool to help in future air quality management in order to mitigate future climate change impacts on air quality.

Regional and urban Victorian diabetic youth: clinical and quality-of-life outcomes

Objectives: To compare groups of urban and regional Victorian diabetic children and assess their quality of life, diabetes knowledge, access to services and metabolic control.

Methods: Forty-seven children from three regional Victorian communities (Horsham, Warrnambool and Sale; n = 16, 18 and 13, respectively) were compared with 120 age-, sex- and duration of diabetes-matched children attending the Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) diabetes clinic in Melbourne. Quality of life, diabetes knowledge, use of services, and metabolic control were assessed using the child health questionnaire (CHQ PF-50/CF-80); a diabetes-knowledge questionnaire; access to a diabetes nurse educator (DNE), dietitian and complication screening; and indices of mean HbA1C (values are taken every 3 months in the 'yearly HbA1C'), respectively.

Results: Comparisons of CHQ data showed that regional diabetic youth scored significantly lower on most subscales. The greatest deficits were seen in areas of mental health, self-esteem, parent impact (emotional) and family cohesion. Diabetes knowledge and median yearly HbA1C for patients were not significantly different between the regional and urban centres (8.1%, 8.9%, 8.4% and 8.6% at RCH, Horsham, Warrnambool and Sale, respectively). Patients in regional centres had reportedly less access to team-based diabetes care.

Conclusions: Regional youth in Victoria, with similar levels of metabolic control and diabetes knowledge as their urban counterparts, have a markedly lower quality of life, implying a negative synergy between diabetes and the demands of regional lifestyles.

An integrated model of subnational regional and urban economic development : framework of analysis

The mechanism of subnational regional and urban economic development has been studied extensively by economists, geographers, town planners and other academics. The existing widely varying theories of regional economic development are insufficient on their own in explaining how a region can develop and prosper. Each theory has evaluated a few facets of regional economic development. Research from these different perspectives is narrow and prevents any cross-fertilization of research from these diverse theories. Recognition of multiple factors affecting the development process has led the author to create an integrated model of regional and urban economic development. The essay first sets out to describe and explain this integrated model. Each of the components of this new model draws heavily upon seminal work in the field. This model proposes three rings. Each ring is at a different level of abstraction. The determinants of development described in each ring can influence each and every other determinant of development shown in the three-ring structure. This model recognizes that development in any centre, be it regional or urban, nascent or established, is a composite end result of the complex interplay of all the determinants. The essay then goes on to show how this model can provide a broad holistic approach to regional economic development that can assist researchers in their attempts to understand and link its various theories.

Regional versus urban differences in teenage alcohol use: Does parental disapproval account for these differences?

- Objective To investigate if parental disapproval of alcohol use accounts for differences in adolescent alcohol use across regional and urban communities. - Design Secondary data analysis of grade-level stratified data from a random sample of schools. - Setting High schools in Victoria, Australia. - Participants A random sample of 10273 adolescents from Grade 7 (mean age=12.51 years), 9 (14.46 years) and 11 (16.42 years). - Main outcome measures The key independent variables were parental disapproval of adolescent alcohol use and regionality (regional/ urban), and the dependent variable was past 30 days alcohol use. - Results After adjusting for potential confounders, adolescents in regional areas were more likely to use alcohol in the past 30 days (OR=1.83, 1.44 and 1.37 for Grades 7, 9 and 11, respectively, P<0.05), and their parents have a lower level of disapproval of their alcohol use (b=-0.12, -0.15 and -0.19 for Grades 7, 9 and 11, respectively, P<0.001). Bootstrapping analyses suggested that 8.37%, 23.30% and 39.22% of the effect of regionality on adolescent alcohol use was mediated by parental disapproval of alcohol use for Grades 7, 9 and 11 participants respectively (P<0.05). - Conclusions Adolescents in urban areas had a lower risk of alcohol use compared with their regional counterparts, and differences in parental disapproval of alcohol use contributed to this difference.

Regional versus urban differences in teenage alcohol use: Does parental disapproval account for these differences?

Objective: To investigate if parental disapproval of alcohol use accounts for differences in adolescent alcohol use across regional and urban communities. Design: Secondary data analysis of grade-level stratified data from a random sample of schools. Setting: High schools in Victoria, Australia. Participants: A random sample of 10273 adolescents from Grade 7 (mean age=12.51 years), 9 (14.46 years) and 11 (16.42 years). Main outcome measures: The key independent variables were parental disapproval of adolescent alcohol use and regionality (regional/ urban), and the dependent variable was past 30 days alcohol use. Results: After adjusting for potential confounders, adolescents in regional areas were more likely to use alcohol in the past 30 days (OR=1.83, 1.44 and 1.37 for Grades 7, 9 and 11, respectively, P<0.05), and their parents have a lower level of disapproval of their alcohol use (b=-0.12, -0.15 and -0.19 for Grades 7, 9 and 11, respectively, P<0.001). Bootstrapping analyses suggested that 8.37%, 23.30% and 39.22% of the effect of regionality on adolescent alcohol use was mediated by parental disapproval of alcohol use for Grades 7, 9 and 11 participants respectively (P<0.05). Conclusions: Adolescents in urban areas had a lower risk of alcohol use compared with their regional counterparts, and differences in parental disapproval of alcohol use contributed to this difference.

Ubiquitous and smart system approaches to infrastructure planning : learnings from Korea, Japan and Hong Kong

The robust economic growth across South East Asia and the significant advances in nano-technologies in the past two decades have resulted in the creation of intelligent urban infrastructures. Cities like Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong have been competing against each other to develop the first ‘ubiquitous city’, a strategic global node of science and technology that provides all municipal services for residents and visitors via ubiquitous infrastructures. This chapter scrutinises the development of ubiquitous and smart infrastructure in Korea, Japan and Hong Kong. These cases provide invaluable learnings for policy-makers and urban and infrastructure planners when considering adopting these systems approaches in their cities.

Social infrastructure planning and sustainable community : example from south east Queensland, Australia

Social infrastructure and sustainable development represent two distinct but interlinked concepts bounded by a geographic location. For those involved in the planning of a residential development, the notion of social infrastructure is crucial to the building of a healthy community and sustainable environment. This is because social infrastructure is provided in response to the basic needs of communities and to enhance the quality of life, equity, stability and social well being. It also acts as the building block to the enhancement of human and social capital. While acknowledging the different levels of social infrastructure provision from neighbourhood, local, district and sub-regional levels, past evidence has shown that the provision at neighbourhood and local level and are affecting well-being of residents and the community sustainability. With intense physical development taking place in Australia's South East Queensland (SEQ) region, local councils are under immense pressure to provide adequate social and community facilities for their residents. This paper shows how participation-oriented, need-sensitive Integrated Social Infrastructure Planning Guideline is used to offer a solution for the efficient planning and provision of multi-level social infrastructure for the SEQ region. The paper points out to the successful implementation of the guideline for social infrastructure planning in multiple levels of spatial jurisdictions of Australia's fastest growing region.