New City – Cisco Style

Cisco’s Wim Elfrink and developer Stan Gale plan to standardize many elements of New Songdo (see above) in other cities. Photograph by James Whitlow Delano

Ten years ago, Gale was a builder and flipper of office parks. Gale’s fate began to change in 2001 with a phone call from South Korea. The Korean government had found his firm on the Internet and made an offer. The Vision: Gale would borrow $35 billion from Korea’s banks and its biggest steel company, and use the money to build from SCRATCH a city the size of downtown Boston. New Songdo City won’t be finished until 2015 at least, but in August, Gale cut the ribbon on the 100-acre “Central Park” modeled, like so much of the city, on Manhattan’s.

Filed Under: Cities

Tags: Cisco • New Songdo • Stan Gale • Wim Elfrink