Event Review-5G Urban Revolution or Tech Hype?
28/06/2019
​happening 
5G network is set to be the latest development of mobile wireless technology. This year is the start-up year for the large-scale application of 5G technology in China, and people are full of expectations about the what the new technology will bring. Last Saturday, Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Construction & Development Investment Development Co., Ltd. invited scholars and experts from relevant fields to gather together for an open discussion on the various impacts of 5G on the development of future cities.​
5G network is the latest important development of mobile wireless technology. It should provide people with faster data connections, open the way to new industrial applications, and even help to build "smart cities" with widespread connectivity, a faster, more agile and richer communications network than 4G.
The number of Internet of Things terminals connected by 5G per square kilometer is expected to reach 1 million, 10 times more than 4G. 5G is essential to make unmanned driving a reality and may bring unprecedented new changes and new experiences in the fields of consumption and industry, such as educuation and health care.
However, is 5G an urban revolution or a tech hype? . Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Construction & Development Investment Development Co., Ltd. have invited scholars and experts from relevant fields to gather together for an open discussion on the various impacts of 5G on the development of future cities.
The major technology companies spare no effort to promote 5G, introducing the benefits that it may bring, such as various new applications and concepts such as "smart city, smart transportation, smart agriculture", and so on. The application of 5G network is being considered as an urban revolution.
On the other hand, there are also many uncertainties with the technology, such as the high cost of 5G deployment, the radiation problems caused by the large-scale construction of 5G base stations and the time span required for large-scale application and coverage of 5G.

Facilitator

​Barry WILSON
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Barry is Vice President of the Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design, professional member of the Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects, chartered member of UK landscape institute. His practice, Barry Wilson Project Initiatives, have been tackling urbanisation issues in Hong Kong and China for over 20 years. 
​I think the changes 5G will bring can be divided into two dimensions. At the personal level, the changes may be only associated with faster connection and data access. But in terms of industrial, city and system changes, 5G technology may have great potential to bring tremendous impact. On the other hand, although there are still many concerns and doubts about 5G technology, such as concerns over operators and local regulations. It is more likely that most cities could make full use of 5G technology to build "resilient cities".

Summaries

Alain CHIARADIA

​Alain is Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Architecture,Department of Urban Planning and Design. He is the Programme Director of the Master of Urban Design. Before joining the University of Hong Kong, he was Senior Lecturer in Urban Design at the Cardiff University’s School of Geography and Planning.
​It is an interesting idea to imagine a city with all sorts of modern technologies. What makes up a "technology city" might include better ways to match resources (demand and supply), better sharing of resources and better learning. On the other hand, these changes should also lead the opportunities for people to see more "experimental cities", and find new ways of urban development by means of pioneering and trying. Such changes are likely to be seen first in cities such as Shenzhen. I hope that such new technology applications can better promote "collective action" in urban communities.
Zhihang LUO

​Zhihang Luo is an innovative visionary with expertise in urban design, architecture, and landscape architecture, he is also a visiting lecturer as studio instructor in Shenzhen University. Mr.Luo’s work spans a wide range of scales, from individual building, urbanlandscape, mixed-use complex, to large scale city master plans across the worldthrough China, and North American, to South East Asia cities. Committed to thesustainable approaches, Luo integrates research and practice in his workfocusing on bringing across planning, architecture and landscape to createcoherent vision in his projects with strong implementable strategies. Zhihangis an Associate and lead urban designer in SOM Hong Kong office.
We all agree that 5G will significantly increase efficiency that will be beneficial to the lifestyle, our work, travel, and will also support smart city building. Design can take the advantages. However cities are different from one to another, they have unique characters and issues. There are also critical challenges we are all facing such as global warming, sea level rise, identity, habitat and place making that require designer to make prioritized responses. With the technologies, design needs strong principles as guldens to arrive right actions, that can really make our cities better and more resilient.
Jelena Lucic

Jelena Lucic is a Managing Consultant for Asia for epi Consulting, a UK based company dealing with Sustainable Supply Chain programmes for large telco brands such as British Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, Swisscom and others. Jelena has been organising various events in Europe and Shenzhen in the field of sustainability, technology and sustainable cities.
​5G technology can bring huge changes to the all industries besides "smart cities", such as changing the environment of factory production to a more controlled environment. In addition, 5G also intends to add more "connections" among countries, societies and groups, making people's lives more closely connected global society. Combined with AI and other technologies, it is highly likely to bring greater creativity and productivity to the society
​Louie SIEH

Louie SIEH is an urban researcher and educator at City University of Hong Kong working on the creation and management of value in the built environment and urban public space.
I believe that 5G technology could bring at least 2-3 step changes to us in the future, and people are constantly expecting such changes. For example, 5G may change some operational models, such as providing better data monitoring and improving decision-making efficiency in some areas. But the real changes that 5G will bring may be completely different from what people expected.
Zhenyuan YANG

Zhenyuan YANG is Lecturer at the school of architecture and urban planning, Shenzhen University. He is also the founder of SMO(space making office), which is a young design practice strongly involved in urban design projects in Shenzhen. Before joining Shenzhen University, he has worked for Foster + Partners in London and licensed architect in UK.
5G technology may inevitably change people's lives in cities, but the change might be insignificant compared to the impact on rural people. 5G, as a new form of infrastructure, could bring huge benefits to underdeveloped and developing countries such as India and Africa, which previously had insufficient infrastructure, making it much easier to do business and potentially empowering vulnerable populations and addressing poverty.
​Danilo TREVISAN

Danilo is an Italian licensed architect. Director and founder of ALEATEK GROUP, since 2013, Danilo is responsible for the firm’s overall operations, in Asia. His background extends to several project types: Hospitality, Commercial, Large Scale Complex and Urban Planning.
​The implementation of  5th generation telecommunication will probably be a natural evolution from the 4th generation rather than a disruptive change,. Although it is more advanced, the implementation is limited to densely inhabited areas which could limit its impact at global level. The impact on urban lifestyle instead will be obvious. It is hard to imagine what this new system will bring in the future: countless applications in communication, goods and people logistic, but we all see that the introduction of any new technology is often linked to an improvement of the speed. 5G will possibly allow us to quickly run many applications and exchange data on a large scale in real time.​

​In other words it will allow us to perform tasks faster and speed up our lives. Can we still accept that? Will we reach our physiological limits? In the contemporary lifestyle where  there is no clear boundary between working time and free time , this "speed-up" may create a scary scenario that affects our daily lives rather than just working performance, The 5G promo video we saw today shows that as well. Nowadays our lives are more closely connected with technology and networks than ever before. As designers and city planners we should always be aware of their impact on society and environment, so that we can respond properly and focus on the real targets: to improve work and living places, to boost the efficiency of work, rather than sacrificing the quality of life.
​Jason HILGEFORT

Jason is an urbanist|architect and founder of Land+Civilization Compositions, A formal Academy, and The Institute for Autonomous Urbanism; he is a Lecturer in Urban Design at Hong Kong University and is currently executing his PHD at RMIT.
5G is strictly a new form of infrastructure. Perhaps its biggest impact will be in regards to the haves and have-nots. The greater bay area is well positioned to give itself a massive competitive advantage not only in having a superior system but also in having access to large amounts of data points via the Chinese reality.

​More interesting is the spatial impacts this could have in people’s daily lives. Although this will not happen instantaneously, the changes this can bring to having more adaptive and immediately responsive cities, codes, and ways of living. The potential for more dynamic uses of public spaces [more spaces given to people, less to cars], financial systems [immediate feedback loop can impact taxing models], and on relationship with the natural environment [immediate feedback and consequences for harming or helping our plant] are not clear yet – but 5G ‘paves the way’ digitally for the real world spaces in our city to behave very differently.
Benjack PHILLIPS

​5G will bring "quantitative" changes in the short term, just as the exponential growth from 2G to 3G to 4G will lead to faster transmission speeds. On the other hand, the "quality" of data is another dimension that needs to be considered and will face challenges.
​5G will bring "quantitative" changes in the short term, just as the exponential growth from 2G to 3G to 4G will lead to faster transmission speeds. On the other hand, the "quality" of data is another dimension that needs to be considered and will face challenges.
Jimi Lee, JAKSA

​Jimi is a passionate multidisciplinary individual fromSerbia with over 10 years practice and education engagement in Architecture(Europe and Asia) including participation in multicultural and academic activities of local ornational importance in Serbia, China, and Japan.

​Jimi is also Associate Architect at AECOM with 6 yearsof commitment to this institution where he led several public, industrial andcommercial projects.
Jimi Lee, JAKSA

5G – URBAN REVOLUTION OR TECH HYPE
 
The unknown of long distance outcome led by 5G impact to society is not an obstacle of understanding principles which would determine this development. Therefore, I would like to underline three keywords as recognized phenomena we could expect upon 5G launch.
 
01 Personalization 
Society will face a new layer of data capable of processing. I could see that every individual’s movement, interaction, needs, body condition, etc. will be integrated into our apps in real time, eventually becoming a strong parameter in people’s choices and daily routine based on their personal lifestyle.
 
02 Convergence
It’s not only about having more data but how they’re going to be processed. We could whiteness how internet opened a new door to many minor entrepreneurs, urban locations, marketing research, and others. Ideally, larger data processing would support the strengthening of weak, aiming to converge the undeveloped area in providing basic living standards.
 
03 Opportunity to rethink our planning methods
When thinking of device personalization, it doesn’t mean running away from collective principles, rather an implementation of what Lao Tzu sees as the stage of reaching “Great integrity”, breaking things in pieces in order to arrange them in harmony. This is how I see the role of networked “personalization”, not to make chaos of individuals, but to allow them a greater contribution to city planning new parameter setting.
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2019/05/28
Education:
Shenzhen University Planning Urban Futures 

2019/04/29
Conference:
Barriers and Affordances to Active Ageing
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2019/04/26
Conference:
Beijing New Smart City Explored
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2019/02/28
Interview:
Barry Wilson meets Andrew Lee​​
Founded in 2011, the SHENZHEN SEZ CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT GROUP CO., LTD. acts as a platform for investments and financing at municipal levels, major municipal infrastructure construction, industrial upgrade and targeted support, in accordance with decisions and arrangements made by the Municipal committee of CPC, Municipal government and Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council. By the end of March, 2017, its registered capital has totaled 32.121 billion RMB, with a total asset of 50.109 billion RMB. It aimed to build a trillion-worth group that befits Shenzhen's status, promoting Shenzhen's great leap forward in economic and social development.
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