A variety of Living Cities (LC) concepts with different characteristics and scopes are being developed and in some cases implemented throughout the world. Although only a few of these projects, also known as wireless, e- or smart cities, have reached a significant degree of implementation, the extreme acceleration in this trend makes one wonder what makes it so interesting within the framework of the drive to convergence. Do Living City concepts provide a test-tube example of the Telco 2.0 business model?

A very long time ago the ancient Greek city-state ‘Polis’ and its surrounding territories established links between its inhabitants’ political autonomy, markets, and health system, as well as culture and entertainment. Today the technological capabilities and the size of the agglomerations are much further developed, as city and national boundaries are simply ignored and everything is melting into one global ‘community’. All participants in today’s IP-Eco-Systems are closely linked. Now just as in the past the success of a system is measured in terms of how much added value is created for its private and commercial participants. The ‘local community’ is an important step towards ‘social communities’ for the IP world.


Typical diary entry of a LC resident in the year 2011
If we take a short time trip into the year 2011 then, based on existing solution concepts and technologies that are already available, the following diary excerpt could illustrate the average weekend of a LC resident:


"On Sunday morning the local elections took place. I left the house with my mobile ticket for the soccer game. This includes a ticket for local transport and a mobile instant replay service which is implemented by the Event Service Provider. I received an eVoucher for 5 € for the next game as I left the stadium. Hooligans who caused trouble at the match were quickly found and identified using CCTV. One fan had to be taken to hospital, his health file was waiting for him when he got there.


On the way home my son saw an advert for the boots worn by the goalie at the match on a City Light Poster at the underground station. A short click on his near field communication phone and he had registered his request for information. Before we reached home he had received information about three shops in our vicinity which offer the shoes at a reasonable price. If he had the money then he could navigate his way straight into the shop and to the shoe counter via his mobile phone.
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