The Web Science Institute at the University of Southampton in the UK has partnered with Fawley Waterside Limited, Cisco, IBM, Siemens, and Vodafone to build a new intelligent city on the outskirts of Southampton.
“We have the opportunity to create a place that will be enormously beneficial to both new and existing communities and be the spearhead for showing how the UK has a new blueprint for successful town building,” said Aldred Drummond, Chief Executive, Fawley Waterside Ltd.
Plans are to create a complete town which has ‘intelligent’ infrastructure with a core focus on intelligent mobility, intelligent energy, health, working and living. It aims to deliver 1,500 homes alongside 1 million square feet of employment space, and a university innovation hub – surrounded by the natural resources of the New Forest National Park and the waterways of the Solent River.
“Smart City projects the world over aim to provide better services for their residents, businesses and society, but what Fawley Waterside aims to do is ground breaking. Taking the concept of intelligence through connectivity as the foundational principle has the potential to challenge how we architect cities. We look forward to working with the leading consortium of partners on building the vision out further,” stated Scot Gardner, chief executive, Cisco UK and Ireland
Fawley Waterside has hosted a number of local public exhibitions highlighting the current masterplan for the site and inviting public feedback.
Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Executive Director of the Web Science Institute and Regius Professor in Computer Science, says, “We are delighted to be part of this group and to help balance the social and the technical aspects of such an ambitious and brave project.”
