Sustainable Cities: Advanced Technological Development Trends

Abstract

According to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), the population distribution by city size is categorized as follows: 1 to 5 million - medium-sized cities; 5 to 10 million - large cities; and 10 million or more - mega cities. The Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC) estimates that the populations of Taiwan's bigger cities in 2025 will be as follows: 4.1 million in New Taipei City; 2.8 million in Taichung City; 2.6 million in Kaohsiung City; 2.5 million in Taipei City; 2.3 million in Taoyuan City; and 1.8 million in Tainan City. All of them are classified as medium-sized cities, based on the UN definition. The Taipei-Keelung metropolitan area can be considered as a mega city from the perspective of regional planning."Urbanization" has become an inevitable trend in the development of today's space. However, it has brought about many problems, such as inadequate infrastructure that is unable to meet demands; various types of pollution (air, water, soil, noise, etc.) resulting from the intensive development; waste dumping, resource wasting and scarcity, and other phenomena such as social inequality. The concept of the "sustainable city" was developed to prevent the worsening of the existing problems and the formation of new ones. "Sustainable development" refers to a method of development that meets the needs of the people in the contemporary era without compromising the needs of future generations. A "sustainable city" is defined as improving the quality of life in a city, including environmental, economic, political, and social components, without increasing the burden on future generations. With this in mind, this study defines the technological scope of present-day sustainable cities as grounded in information communication technology to build livable and convenient cities, in the areas of energy, resources, transportation, disaster prevention, healthcare, education, social equality, and other fields.