City Development

Over the past decade, building smarter, resilient cities is an established global trend in urban development, including developing countries. Unexpected external shocks, disasters and damage from climate change have major impacts on sustainable growth and well-being for citizens in today’s cities and requires comprehensive solutions. To deal with these negative events, cities predominantly invest in hard physical infrastructure, with less attention on non-physical soft assets which are intangible in nature and more difficult to quantify, but essential to achieve effective, balanced sustainable development. The value of soft assets can be substantial, and consistent implementation by cities can generate diverse value and be transformative for their urban development. For that purpose, cities need to establish an appropriate strategy, framework and structure to incorporate soft assets during the plan and implementation of hard infrastructure.

Over the past decade, building smarter, resilient cities is an established global trend in urban development, including developing countries. Unexpected external shocks, disasters and damage from climate change have major impacts on sustainable growth and well-being for citizens in today’s cities and requires comprehensive solutions. To deal with these negative events, cities predominantly invest in hard physical infrastructure, with less attention on non-physical soft assets which are intangible in nature and more difficult to quantify, but essential to achieve effective, balanced sustainable development. The value of soft assets can be substantial, and consistent implementation by cities can generate diverse value and be transformative for their urban development. For that purpose, cities need to establish an appropriate strategy, framework and structure to incorporate soft assets during the plan and implementation of hard infrastructure.

This book explores the fundamentals of smart cities along with issues, controversies, problems and applications concerning security and privacy in smart city development. Future smart cities must incorporate innovations like smart rainwater harvesting, smart street lighting, digital identity management, solar energy, intelligent transport systems and emerging communication applications.

Today, the new Indonesian capital city, Nusantara, planning is being anticipated as “representing national identity,” “a model city,” or “a gift to the world,” and many other extraordinary labels. This book examines the reality of an ongoing developmental transformation of the Nusantara beyond those labels. It approaches its assemblage of humans, their works (plans, documents, policies, and others), non-human objects (biodiversity, landscape, geography, physical infrastructure, buildings, and public spaces), processes, social relationships, social infrastructures, and others. It is organized into three themes—mimicry, friction, and resonance. The mimicry illustrates the similarities (and differences) between Nusantara and other capital cities in urban narratives, imageries, and forms. The friction studies how Nusantara moves actors who do not always agree, processes that do not always align or collaboration between diverse contradicting groups that intersect.

“This compendium is an invaluable read for urban geographers/planners. The Malaysian government has formulated a set of strategies to enhance urban development and the role of cities. This book contributes profoundly to this objective. It rises above previous work on competitive cities in Malaysia in terms of detail and richness of local knowledge.”