The City of the Future Report

The City of the Future Report
Executive Summary

MAKING A COMMITMENT TO THE CITY OF THE FUTURE

 San Diego is well positioned to nurture a new and exciting vision for itself as an intelligent information city, a global city of the future, ready and able to plug into the rapidly emerging global information economy.

 Based upon the belief that the political will exists, with government and industry joining forces in the community, to transform San Diego into the city it must be to provide a productive and fertile economic environment for its citizens in the next century– a truly international information city– Mayor Susan Golding created the Mayor's Advisory Committee on the City of the Future.

 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS IN SAN DIEGO

The much-heralded development of "infor-mation highways" is a worldwide phenomenon.  Such "information highways" represent the new infrastructure of a post-industrial society.  Building the information highways may be crucial to our political and economic survival in the new world order of global interdependent economies.  However, there are three broad areas of concern facing all of us as we think about the role of communications in the social and economic development of our region:

I.      Cooperation between the private and public sectors is essential to achieve the benefits that technology affords us.

II.     The challenge for San Diego is not building the infrastructure, but rather, ensuring the benefits are widely understood and that the systems are used by all sectors of our economy.
III.   Cities — independent of the federal or state governments — must develop their own bold telecommunications policy, and do so in cooperation with their neighbors in San Diego County and Baja California.

CAPITALIZE ON THE DIVERSE INTERESTS WITHIN THE CITY

On April 28, 1993, the Mayor's Advisory Committee on the City of the Future held its in­augural meeting.  The mission of the Committee on the City of the Future was to:  examine the importance of information technology to San Diego's future; evaluate San Diego's readiness for such a vision; recommend steps to be taken to hasten and facilitate the development of a new industry and government cooperative, and to build widespread community awareness for the concept of the city of tomorrow, today.

From April through December 1993, the Committee met to carry out its charge.  In August 1993, additional community leaders were brought into this challenging effort to serve on subcommittees addressing specific areas of concern.

On September 8, 1993, the Committee held a full day retreat to devise a first draft vision statement, which would be a tool for guiding the work of the subcommittees (a copy of the  Vision of Prosperity is included on page 1).

The Committee observed that the future is most fruitful for San Diegans not only because of a commitment to embracing the new technologies, but because of far-sighted government leadership and bold initiatives welcoming new and innovative partnerships that remove the barriers to robust economic development.  Against this background, the Committee respectfully submits the following recommendations:

 RECOMMENDATIONS

1.   ESTABLISH A PRIVATE/PUBLIC PARTNERSHIP

Information Highways– the most advanced communications infrastructure ever conceived– are the new “rivers of commerce.”  Like cities built along railroads and interstate highways in an earlier era, successful cities of the future in the post-industrial economy will depend heavily on the sophisticated use of information highways, information technologies, and the development of information products and services.

San Diego has long been a leader in the implementation of telecommunications technology.  The region boasts an enormous broadband telecommunications capacity (via fiber optic cable, broadband wired and wireless communications systems); however, these current systems are typically discrete, unable to "talk to each other," and serving only the specific needs of each controlling institution.

Although telecommunications regulation has traditionally rested in the hands of the state and federal government, the rapidly changing technological environment is changing this.  The California Public Utilities Commission in a recent report recommended that the state, "Above all, encourage relentless innovation in the ways advanced telecommunications is provided and used in the state."  It is in the best interest of all its citizens that the City take this to heart and carve a new niche for itself in the emerging information landscape.

To this end, the City of San Diego should establish a private/public partnership to build a community-wide communications infra-structure to serve the citizens of San Diego.

Such a partnership linking of all of San Diego’s major institutions and facilities, including small business, health care providers, schools and universities, the military, museums, art and cultural attractions, the tourist and entertainment industries, local utilities, and local government will provide the public and private sectors greater, more timely access to important services which will make the region more economically attractive, internationally competitive, and enhance the quality of daily life in San Diego.

The City of San Diego should issue a Request for Information (RFI) seeking information from the telecommunication industry regarding the development of such a partnership to serve the telecommunications needs of the community and to both participate in and facilitate the creation of such a community-wide grid.

The primary goal of this Request for Information effort should be to determine the most effective and timely means to link these constituencies together through an interconnected fiber optic telecommunications grid, but including other wired and wireless technologies, at the lowest possible cost.

2.   DEVELOP  A TELECOMMUNICA-TIONS POLICY  OFFICE

In the 21st century, new technologies and their efficient management will play a key role in regional economic development and improved delivery of government and social services.  Currently, responsibility for various telecommunications services is scattered throughout different offices within the San Diego city government.

 The City should develop a Telecommunications Policy Office with dual reporting lines to the City Council and the Mayor and to the City Manager.  This office would be responsible for keeping the City abreast of developments and potential applications of new and emerging telecommunications technologies.

 The Telecommunications Policy Office would serve as a catalyst between the public and private sector to determine ways in which improved government services can be provided electronically and to facilitate public/private partnerships to do so.

 In establishing the mandate for such an office, the City should carefully examine the many duplicative and overlapping responsibilities for telecommunications and information technologies that currently exist and those services most affected by such technologies.  Such analysis should provide the office with sufficient breadth of authority to advise the Mayor and the Council to fundamentally transform the way government operates today.

 At the state level, for example, CALTRANS is redefining “transportation” to include the movement of information as well as vehicular traffic, goods and people.

3.     ACCELERATE GOVERNMENT USE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

The City of San Diego must take the lead in transforming existing ways of communicating.  In the interest of providing greater accessibility and promoting time and cost savings, the City of San Diego should ensure that all publicly available information and forms be made available electronically, and the City should also accept government forms such as city permits and applications electronically.

 As part of this accelerated agenda for transforming government and the way its services are delivered, the City of San Diego should consider specific proposed projects– already in varying stages of development– that use advanced communications to enhance the way government does business.  These projects include:  an automated Service Request System, automated scheduling for park and recreation activities, a Library Research Service, a Development Project Early Assistance and Tracking Program, and a system for easy access to building information.

 All departments of the City, in cooperation with the Telecommunications Policy Office, should also develop a privatization agenda, looking for new projects or existing programs that could be transferred to the private sector, in a private/public cooperative to be delivered electronically.

 4.      ESTABLISH A FEDERAL / STATE FUNDING TASK FORCE

Approximately two billion dollars is currently available through federal and state programs designed to foster development of advanced information infrastructures and to encourage development of vital information programs and services.  San Diego institutions, both public and private, are well positioned to take advantage of these newly available funding opportunities.  

The City of San Diego should establish a Federal/State Funding task force to identify funding sources, to coordinate efforts of various entities– both public and private, business and academic– to secure funding, and serve as a clearinghouse for information on current and upcoming funding opportunities and assistance programs.  San Diego's recent successful application for designation as a Regional Technology Alliance makes this possible.

5.      IDENTIFY AND REWARD PRIVATE INITIATIVES

The Committee has also identified three basic areas in which the City can take an active role in fostering the development and success of selected pilot projects aimed at developing new mechanisms for the delivery of education, health care, and information services.  To this end, the City of San Diego should identify, assist and augment initiatives already begun within the community.  These initiatives include:



establishing "Life-Site Schools" to serve as community centers for the integrated delivery of health care, government and library services to link parents and their children to the schools in their community;
promoting development of a Health Care Utility, a private and public sector cooperative linking hospitals, clinics, physicians, laboratories and imaging centers for routine transfer of standardized patient information, and laboratory tests; and
launching "InfoSanDiego," a universally accessible, kiosk-based information service serving the broadest possible needs of San Diegans.
6.      CONTINUE THE STUDY EFFORT: THE ROLE OF TELECOMMUNICA-TIONS IN THE SAN DIEGO REGION

The International Center for Communications, in 1992, completed a report titled San Diego in the Global Village.  This report, which was jointly sponsored by the City of San Diego and the County of San Diego, generated widespread awareness of the potential use of telecommunications technology to change the way we live and work, and sufficient interest of the City and County and a number of municipalities to elevate the importance of telecommunications on the public policy agenda.  Indeed, Mayor Golding used this initial study effort as the basis for launching her Advisory Committee on the City of the Future.

But there is much work to be done.  The City should begin to evaluate alternative economic/market structures for the delivery of communications systems, and assess the ability of existing technology to meet the demands of the communications users now and in the future.  It is important to plan how local governments can participate in the provision of telecommunications and information tech-nology and how they can most appropriately and effectively coordinate their efforts with private providers of this technology.

 Subsequent studies should focus on the greater San Diego region and identify initiatives and policies to implement so that it can assume a leadership role in the coordinated use of ad­vanced communications technology.  Such a role would be a vital link to San Diego's eco­nomic and social development and its ability to continue providing services in an efficient and effective manner.

7.      MAXIMIZE SAN DIEGO'S HUMAN RESOURCES:  EDUCATION AND DEFENSE CONVERSION

Economic growth and wealth in the information age in San Diego will be measured less in terms of natural resources than in terms of human resources, the skill levels of regional workers, and the pipeline of future workers.

 More and more San Diegans, particularly those in the defense industry searching for employment opportunities, should have available comprehensive programs in telecommunications, information technology, database and software management and development, and related courses in construction engineering and systems development.

 Successful cities and regions of the 21st century will attract new industry, in part, because of their ability to execute broad employee development programs.  The Committee emphasizes the importance that "industry/academic alliances and partnerships be formed specifically to enhance the worker pipeline."

 8.      BLUR THE BORDERS

 One of the most disturbing problems about the development of community-wide systems of any kind are that they tend to stop at political boundaries, whether they be municipalities or international borders, such as the one San Diego has with Tijuana.  The movement of people and the conduct of business do not recognize these arbitrary geopolitical borders.

 The Committee strongly recommends that the City, playing the leadership role that it does, reach out to the greater San Diego community to engage the interest, excitement, and cooperation of the municipalities represented by the County, as well as to the City of Tijuana and its business and institutional representatives.  There are obvious political differences on some issues that separate one city from the other.  However, the development of a communications infrastructure to serve all of the people of the greater San Diego-Baja region should not be one of them.

FINDINGS OF THE SUBCOMMITTEES

The Committee worked to explore unique and innovative applications in health care, education and government and to develop specific recommendations for private/public joint ventures and for privatization of certain governmental functions or services.

As part of this undertaking, the Committee reached out to leaders in the public and private sectors– businessmen, professionals, and aca­demics– to serve on the following subcom­mittees:

Health Care
 Education
 Electronic Libraries
Art, Culture, Tourism, and Entertainment
Transportation and Telecommunications
 Emerging Industries
Economics, Government Organization and Decentralization
 Border Issues
Law and Regulation •   
These individuals brought their considerable expertise to bear on each of these areas, creat­ing reports which addressed issues they deemed pertinent to the creation of the City of the Future.  Summaries of these reports are in­cluded in the larger Report of the Advisory Committee on the City of the Future  and their full texts are included in the appendices of the report.

While the work of the subcommittees and all of their recommendations should be reviewed carefully, the Committee recognizes the limita­tions and constraints of government, the long term effort before us, and yet, the need for im­mediate action.

CONCLUSION

Telecommunications and information technol­ogy  are major factors in shaping and ensuring the success of San Diego as a "City of the Future."

As the world moves swiftly toward global in­terconnectivity, economic and social rewards will go to the cities and regions that organize themselves to participate effectively in the in­formation-led economy that is emerging. Those areas that do not choose to follow this path will be left behind.

There is a tendency to see communications is­sues in national and state terms, to the neglect of the pivotal role of the city or region, where responsibility for the whole community is fi­nally lodged. The city's purview encompasses all elements of the community to assure access to the business, professional, educational, health and social benefits that are the promise of a universally accessible, advanced commu­nications infrastructure.

San Diego has a choice: to let the future arrive as it will, shaped by events and circumstance, or to take on a leadership role and focus its public and private sector energies on the challenge of creating a vibrant and vital City of the Future.