U.S. Lags Asia in Digital Cities List

The most advanced high-tech cities in the world are not clustered in the United States. Rather, more than half are in Asia, according to the Australian online tech site The Age, which ranked the top 10 digital cities in the world. The top four cities are in Asia, and only two U.S. cities -- San Francisco (including the Silicon Valley) and New York City -- made the list.

Cities were ranked on such characteristics as the cost and availability of broadband and wireless networks, government support of technology, and the a city's education and technology culture.

A bit of a shocker on the list is the relatively unknown New Songdo City, South Korea. The Age describes the city as "a $31 billion development 60 kilometres south of Seoul on 600 hectares of reclaimed land. It will be one of the world's first cities in which all information systems - residential, medical, business - are linked."

The top 10 are:

1. Seoul

2. Singapore

3. Tokyo

4. Hong Kong

5. Stockholm

6. San Francisco and Silicon Valley

7. Tallinn

8. New York

9. Beijing

10. New Songdo City