John Jung: April 2010 Archives

When you travel to cities to undertake a review one of the Top 7 Intelligent Communities of the Year, you just never know what you can expect. My fellow Co-Founders Robert Bell and Lou Zacharilla can probably tell you other stories, but in the process of reviewing these applications for ICF's Intelligent Community of the Year, we get to see a lot about a community: the highs of their political, economic and cultural excellence, as well as possibly the lows.

For instance in Eindhoven (Brainport), Holland recently, I discovered that the region was the home of Vincent van Gogh and his family. I had just seen an exciting exhibit of rare paintings and personal letters by Vincent to his brother Theo at the Royal Academy the week before in London and now I was going to actually see the shed where he painted his famous Potato Eaters painting. If that wasn't enough, I was given the opportunity to stay in The Netherland's famous Smart Home for three nights in Eindhoven. Although challenged with the language, I was able to master the various buttons and levers to work everything in the Smart Home. It was quite an intuitive experience and an extraordinary opportunity, but it was not the most surprising while in Eindhoven. I was a bit surprised to learn that I would be looking at the underbelly of their society. I thought that was what I had heard, but actually what I wound up looking at was a very pregnant belly of a woman going into labour and here I was, moments later, being encouraged to deliver a baby, no less.

Now how does a guy who sits most days in front of a computer or in a boardroom find himself in an operating room about to deliver a new born baby? Were my recent honorary degrees somehow interpreted as actually being a doctor? Was something lost in translation? I was in Eindhoven to undertake an examination of the vitals of the community, not the vitals of a woman about to deliver a baby. Well, I guess anything goes in the world of ICF.

So let me explain a bit more. I was about to observe the digital monitoring rooms of a health simulation centre where doctors and their team of nurses practice on simulation, observed by other doctors in remote locations. This was supposed to be all about high-speed broadband and its applications. But the program shifted gears and that day's scenario revolved around a woman driving her car at high-speed and has an accident. She is brought to the operating room that we are observing over dozens of monitors.

Our facility shifts into panic mode when it is discovered that she is pregnant and needs an emergency C section or else lose the baby. I was prepared to monitor this in my comfortable chair sipping a latte.  Instead I was given a white doctor's uniform and quickly shepherded into the bright and busy operating room. Others around me were busy with their tasks and one nurse was calming the woman down. The patient was going into shock and there was a new sense of panic as the monitors around me buzz, bleep and whiz. All foreign sounds to me. What am I doing here?

Slipping on rubber gloves, I am handed a scalpel and instructed with a sense of urgency to slice the belly where marked. I do this as instructed. I am then given scissors to complete the job. The gynecologist instructs me to now finish the job by pulling the baby out of the woman's womb through the incision I had just made. I do as I'm told and there is great excitement around us. All this excitement in the span of about 60 seconds. The woman's vital signs improve and the nurse announces that the baby's vital signs are good as well. Apparently there was a photographer imbedded in the delivery room, hence the photograph in the newspaper the next day.

I wonder how many people looking at the picture realize that the woman was a very sophisticated wifi-enabled simulator and while she moves her head and eyes and mouth as if she were real, she wasn't. The belly looked quite realistic; but believe me, I sliced into a rubber doll and nothing else.

After that excitement I continued on to witness a driverless bus by a local firm called Phelia in Brainport's Automotive Campus that uses sensors and magnets to remember its driving track, speed and docking capabilities. Eindhoven purchased a fleet of these buses and developed a 10km route with magnets imbedded into the road between Eindhoven's train station and the airport that could be used by the driverless bus. I wonder if that is where the woman had her accident? Wait a minute, it's all simulation.

Of the many communities that I have visited over the years, the smallest U.S. county built on the "Arlington Way" is among the most unusual and most successful. Described as a collaboration of citizens, businesses and government, it seems to be in a constant process of collaboration aimed at "slowing down the planning and development process" to allow for thoughtful and insightful input by the dozens of neighborhood committees, commissions and task forces. Once a plan is established, I am told, it is important in "Arlington Way" fashion to ensure consistency at seeing the long term plan through to its ultimate conclusion. And it shows. Where a sea of parking lots surrounded a failing Home Depot, the hub is now home to upscale Whole Foods and Harry's Tap Grill, accessible by well designed streets and treed sidewalks.

The make-up of the community also hosts immigrants and a broad mix of new comers coming to Arlington for residential opportunities adjacent to the Nation's capital. But today many of the people actually find work in Arlington. The sense of community is deep. Young, single and tech savvy, many residents and workers give their time freely to participate in commissions and committees. With a high level of education and sense of community commitment, many are on multiple commissions and committees. "It's hard for the leadership to argue with the opinion of judges, Nobel Laureates, international negotiators and experts in fields ranging from medicine to international development." It is after all, I am reminded, the world in one place. "We have over 100 languages spoken in this community and as a community, it is very inclusive and welcoming to all people from around the world interested in contributing. But it is well known that collaboration becomes more difficult as a community grows. It will be Arlington's challenge to maintain that sense of collaboration as the community continues to attract more people to the county.

Photo: Arlington County Board Chair Jay Fisette with Ballston in the background.

Arlington is adjacent to Georgetown in Washington DC, but feels like a major city with 30 storey high rises and densities that are attractive to young couples and families between the ages of 24-35. At a corner in the Ballston neighborhood I see about a dozen individual joggers, dressed in designer running gear, coming and leaving in all directions, and criss-crossing in a pattern that almost feels choreographed. Arlington is attractive to people who work in the defense industry, close to the Pentagon and to Washington's key offices across the river. The Rosslyn-Ballston corridor is a nexus of science and technology related firms, many of whom benefit from the synergy of the close proximity to each other. The other consolidation of firms supporting the business of government and defense is in the Crystal City area, a major spine of high density development adjacent to Ronald Reagan National Airport.  All of these firms and the people that live and work in them, and their neighboring lower density residential areas benefit from the major transit capabilities in the region. 11 of the 33 stops are in Arlington. The Greater Washington Region has a population of 5.5 million and benefits from the remaining 22 stops. This inordinate benefit that Arlington has is a consequence of geography and history, but it is also a result of determined leadership and the collaboration of many individuals who make up this community. 45 neighborhood committees and a significant number of commissions keep the population in touch and actively engaged. They work together for the betterment of the community; for their families and for their children.          

What is the wow factor in Arlington I asked? I am told without any hesitancy: "It's the committees, commissions and neighborhood groups that make up the county."