The Government has announced the go-ahead for four eco-towns - in Rackheath, Whitehill Bordon, north west Bicester and the China Clay Community in Cornwall.

The four successful bids all meet the standards for "eco-towns" laid down by the Government and have the support of the relevant local authority.

The aim of the eco-towns is to develop living and working spaces which are energy efficient and environmentally friendly, although opponents claim that building on greenfield sites is, in itself, and environmentally unfriendly activity. However, more developments are expected to be approved in the future.

In order to maximise the benefits of any eco-town development, it is expected that significant application of AIDC technology will take place. Automatic identification technology has been central to the development of the concept of intelligent communities and beginnings of the digital town. There are a range of techniques which can contribute to success in an eco-friendly environment. These include tagging underground assets with RFID tags to locate joints and monitor faults; tagging of wheelie bins to record the weight of material recycled; introduction of wireless networking within a city centre environment to enhance the provision of city centre information.

For more information on how AIDC technologies can be used within city centre visit Intelligent Communities and Urban Issues