About the Contributors Tan Yigitcanlar has a multidisciplinary background and almost two decades of work experience in private consulting, government, and academia. Currently a researcher at the School of Urban Development, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, he focuses his research on promoting knowledge-based urban development and sustainable transportation. He has been responsible for a wide variety of teaching, training, and capacity-building programs on varied topics in urban planning, environmental science, policy analysis, and information and communication technologies at Turkish, Japanese, and Australian universities. Professor Yigitcanlar is co-editor of Knowledge-Based Urban Development: Planning and Applications in the Information Era (2008) and Creative Urban Regions: Harnessing Urban Technologies to Support Knowledge City Initiatives (2008). He can be contacted at www.urbanizm.org or tan.yigitcanlar@qut.edu.au. Koray Velibeyoglu is a researcher in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Izmir Institute of Technology, Turkey. His teaching interests and methods cover project-based courses in urban planning and design, as well as urban information and communication technology policy for planning. The main focus of his research clusters around urban information and communication technology policymaking and knowledge-based development processes. He is an expert in understanding networked urbanism and its impact at the metropolitan and local levels, along with the role of information and communication technologies in sustainable urban development. Professor Velibeyoglu is co-editor of Knowledge-Based Urban Development: Planning and Applications in the Information Era (2008) and Creative Urban Regions: Harnessing Urban Technologies to Support Knowledge City Initiatives (2008). He can be contacted at korayvelibeyoglu@iyte.edu.tr. Scott Baum is trained in economics and sociology, and currently holds the position of deputy director in the Urban Research Program, Griffith University, Australia. His research focuses on understanding the economic and social outcomes of change across the settlement system. Most recently he was involved in studying the impacts of local labor markets on the individual socio-economic outcomes. His most recent book, Fault Lines Exposed, was published by the Monash University e-press in 2005. Professor Baum is co-editor of Knowledge-Based Urban Development: Planning and Applications in the Information Era (2008) and Creative Urban Regions: Harnessing Urban Technologies to Support Knowledge City Initiatives (2008). He can be contacted at s.baum@griffith.edu.au. * * * Copyright 2008, IGI Global, distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
Katariina Ala-Rämi is a researcher in the Department of Geography, University of Oulu, Finland. Her PhD thesis, financed by the Academy of Finland, was to be completed during autumn 2007. Her main research interests are different modes of communication in (tacit, codified) knowledge transfer, proximity, regional competitiveness, and social networking/capital. Her current research focuses on different modes of communication in collaboration between high-technology enterprises and the challenges of the peripheral region in high technologies. Ms. Ala-Rami volunteered as a member of the evaluation group of the Multipolis network. She can be contacted at katariina.alarami@oulu.fi. Narayanan Andiappan has been involved with information and communication technology promotional activities for the local communities in Singapore. He has managed several nationwide infocomm adoption projects targeted to promote information and communication technology literacy, Internet usage, as well as online trust and security among businesses and the general public. Until recently, he served as the administration manager for the International Forum for IT in Tamil, promoting information and communication technology to the Tamil diaspora worldwide. He can be contacted at nara. andiappan@gmail.com. Adile Arslan-Avar is an assistant professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning, Izmir Institute of Technology, Turkey. She worked as an anthropologist in the Priority Provinces Project of UNICEF between 1993 and 1995. She also worked in the design and implementation of scientific research and application projects supported by the Ankara Branch of the UCEAT Chamber of Architects Section of UIA in Turkey and the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey. Her main areas of research and teaching are philosophy and history of science, science and technology studies, contemporary social theory, urban theories, ethical issues in life sciences, and biotechnology. She can be contacted at adileavar@iyte.edu.tr. Ahmed Driouchi is professor of applied economics and dean of the Institute of Economic Analysis and Prospective Studies at Al Akhawayn University, Morocco. He researches in the area of quantitative analysis of the development issues. His current research projects focuses on economics of knowledge, skilled labor migration, economics of urban local development, and human development. He works mainly on the South Mediterranean region with a special focus on the relationship to Europe. Enterprise creation through innovation and mobilization of knowledge is among the priorities of Professor Driouchi. The accumulated research helps also in teaching and in promoting consulting activities to a number of organizations. He can be contacted at a.driouchi@aui.ma. Rodrigo José Firmino is a lecturer in urban management at Pontifical Catholic University, Brazil. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, between 2004 and 2007, researching the co-development of urban and technological strategies for cities in developing countries, while sponsored by FAPESP. He trained as an architect and planner at the State University of São Paulo, and obtained his PhD on Urban Planning from the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK in 2004. He also holds an MPhil in Architecture and Urbanism from the University of São Paulo (2000). He can be contacted at rodrigo.firmino@pucpr.br. Feral Geçer is a research and teaching assistant at the Izmir Institute of Technology, Turkey. Between 2004 and 2005 she held a visiting researcher position in the Department of Urban Studies, Budapest
University of Technology and Economics, Hungary. Since early 2007 she is visiting the same institute with a post-graduate scholarship of the Hungarian Board of Scholarships. Her research topics involve information and communication technologies, urban space, planning theories and applications, globalization, and design. She also works on impacts of information and communication technologies on urban space. She can be contacted at feralgecer@iyte.edu.tr. Stan Geertman is an associate professor of human geography and planning with the Faculty of Geosciences at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands. He teaches human geography and geo-information science. His research focuses on improving planning support systems. He can be contacted at s.geertman@geo.uu.nl. Jung Hoon Han is a research fellow at the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, University of Queensland, Australia. His research interest focuses on the internal changes in urban form and planning process in particular the dynamic changes occurring in response to the development of information and communication technologies. He has worked in various roles, including lecturing, professional planning consulting, and quantitative data analysis. He can be contacted at jh.han@uq.edu. au. Phil Heywood is a senior researcher at the School of Urban Development and coordinator of the Community Practice Unit at the Queensland University of Technology, Australia. He has practiced and taught planning in Australia, Britain, West Africa, and South East Asia. He is the author of books and articles on planning and human need, and the social role of planning in metropolitan regions. His current work focuses on collaborative community planning, the planning and governance of metropolitan and provincial regions, and planning for truly independent societies. He can be contacted at p.heywood@ qut.edu.au. Tommi Inkinen is an associate professor of regional studies and economic geography. He is currently a senior researcher in the Department of Geography, University of Helsinki, Finland. His research interests cover citizen-centered information and communication technology use analysis, information society development, and social structuring of innovation and development systems. He has also undertaken applied research providing tools to policymakers both in national and international projects. He is currently a member of the International Geographical Union s Information Society Commission, and he is the secretary of the Finnish Geographical Society. He can be contacted at tommi.inkinen@ helsinki.fi. Tschangho John Kim is an endowed professor of urban and regional systems at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. He has worked in Austria, Germany, South Korea, Indonesia, Sweden, Kenya, the People s Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. He is the head of delegates from Korea for the Technical Committee for GIS Standardization (TC 211) of the International Organization for Standards (ISO) since 1995 and has been an advisor to the ArRiyadh Development Authority in Saudi Arabia since 1994. He is a fellow of the Regional Science Association International and in 2007 was president-elect of the Western Regional Science Association. He can be contacted at tjohnkim@uiuc.edu.
Arun Mahizhnan is deputy director of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), a leading think tank in Singapore, and concurrently is an adjunct professor at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information at the Nanyang Technological University. Dr. Arun s research interests include policy issues relating to information communication technology and mass media, development of Singapore as an information society, and arts and cultural developments in Singapore. He has edited books and contributed articles on the above topics. He has also authored major policy-oriented reports for the Singapore government. In addition, he has been a member of the board of several arts organizations and served in many government committees on culture, arts, and broadcasting. Prior to joining IPS in 1991, Dr. Arun spent 20 years in public and private sectors in senior positions in broadcasting and public communication fields. He can be contacted at arun_mahizhnan@ips.org.sg. Da-Mi Maeng is a researcher at the Korea Urban Renaissance Center in Korea. She earned her PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her main areas of interest are urban spatial structure, urban land use planning, urban regeneration, and the application of geographic information systems in planning. Her current research focuses on the impact of information and communication technologies on the urban environment, and the ways local and regional planning deals with information and communication technologies. She can be contacted at dmaeng@yahoo.com. Cristina Martinez-Fernandez is an associate professor at the UWS Urban Research Center. Previously, she was a senior research fellow in AEGIS (an UWS research center specialized in industry innovation and policy analysis). Her research concentrates on knowledge, innovation, and industry analysis in the new urban economy. She is directing several research programs on skills strategies, industry innovation, and employment and shrinking cities. She can be contacted at c.martinez@uws.edu.au. Nicholas C. Maynard was expected to complete the Public Policy PhD program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, in 2007. His research focuses on the intersection of information and telecommunications technology and economic development. He received the competitive graduate school merit fellowship for his studies at the University of North Carolina and recently won a National Science Foundation grant to research national information and communication technology policies in South East Asia. He can be contacted at nmaynard@unc.edu. Max Nathan is a research associate at the Center for Cities, one of the UK s leading voices on urban policy. Until autumn 2007, he was a senior researcher at the center. He has several years experience of research, consultancy, and policy development, working with decision makers at the national, regional, and local levels. His areas of expertise include urban economics, economic development and regeneration, innovation, housing, and the creative economy. He is also a regular contributor to national and specialist media on urban issues. Mr. Nathan is currently working on his PhD exploring the links between cultural diversity and the economic performance of British cities. He is based at the London School of Economics and the UK Department of Communities and Local Government. He can be contacted at m.nathan@ippr.org. Zorica Nedović-Budić is an associate professor of geographic information systems and urban planning. She received her PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. Her research focuses on the development and utility of spatial data infrastructures, land use regulation and manage- 0
ment of information and communication technologies, and the comparative study of urban development and planning practice in post-communist and transitional societies in Eastern and Central Europe. Dr. Nedović-Budić has published extensively and contributed her service as a book review co-editor for the Journal of the American Planning Association, and as a member of the board of directors of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association and the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science. She can be contacted at budic@uiuc.edu. Richard L. O Bryant is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and a senior research associate at the Center for Urban and Regional Policy, Northeastern University, USA. His most recent research activity includes the establishment of the Connect-The-Disconnected initiative to identify national and international efforts focused on connecting marginalized members of society to information, resources, and social and political networks. Dr. O Bryant s courses include Science, Technology and Public Policy, Urban Policies and Politics, Current Issues in Cities and Suburbs, and Economic Institutions and Analysis. He can be contacted at r.o bryant@neu.edu. Sudarsanam Padam is dean of training and conferences at the Administrative Staff College of India. He can be contacted at padam@asci.org.in. Peter Rogers is Gordon McKay professor of environmental engineering and professor of city planning in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, USA. He is a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the Global Water Partnership, and recipient of Guggenheim and Twentieth Century fellowships. He can be contacted at rogers@seas.harvard.edu. Ömür Saygin is an assistant professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning, Izmir Institute of Technology, Turkey. He specializes in the use of Geographic information systems and remote sensing in urban and regional planning, as well as other computer-based techniques in planning. He is responsible for teaching courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He is responsible for administrating geographic information system and remote sensing laboratories. He is also undertaking administrative responsibilities as a vice-dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the Izmir Institute of Technology. He can be contacted at omursaygin@iyte.edu.tr. Samantha Sharpe is a doctoral candidate at the Urban Research Center, University of Western Sydney, Australia. Her research focuses on regional economic development through the analysis of regional innovation activities and capacity, as well as the public policy and governance implications arising from these activities, principally at the regional and city governance levels. She can be contacted at sa.sharpe@uws.edu.au. Sumeeta Srinivasan is a lecturer in geospatial methods in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, USA. She is also affiliated with the Center for Geographic Analysis and the China Project in Harvard s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She holds a PhD in Transportation Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. She can be contacted at ssrinivasan@cga.harvard.edu.
Robert Stimson is the convener of the Australian Research Council Research Network in Spatially Integrated Social Sciences, and professor of geographical sciences and planning, University of Queensland, Australia. He can be contacted at r.stimson@uq.edu.au. Guido Vonk is a public management consultant with the Berenschot Group in The Netherlands. He is also associated with the Faculty of Geosciences at the University of Utrecht. As a consultant, his focus is on the organizational dimensions of (geo-)information and communication technologies for governments. The focus of his research is on improving planning support systems. He can be contacted at g.a.vonk@gmail.com.