Initial Thoughts on a Functional Vision

My visions of a TO BE county social systems starts by imagining the county as a single living organism where each individual resident represents one cell within the body of this organism. Today, these cells are primarily independent and work on their own behalf, even though some spend much of their energy inside of grouping of cells identified as businesses or other organizations.

Metaphorically the TO BE condition of these single cells (residents) is similar to the period in time when single and multicellular entities become “frogs.” Using this metaphor, we can outline the major organs of our county “frog-like” organism establishing the core functions:

§ The Brain—Office of Integration

§ The Heart—An Education System

§ Circulatory System—Infrastructure that moves resources, data, information, people as they travel throughout the entire social system

§ Respiratory System—Input and Output monitoring of all resources and associated waste

As we set to connect everything to everything else, the core function of our social system is the education system. In Howard County we can design around the current HCC campus and educational offerings. Of course, our education system requires major regeneration and thinking. Yet, the idea of “You Can Get There From Here” is a perfect beginning to literally and subtle tying everything in the county together.

The redesign will be based on the idea of Integral Education: body, mind and spirit in self, culture and nature. There are new models emerging that will help guide us through this process, with the intent to create an environment where peer cohorts, wisdom counsels, and leading authorities interact to exchange, debate and explore ideas, innovate solutions or learn basic life skills to help us all thrive. The premise is that everyone is a leader and as a leader we take responsibility for our world. For most of us, that means ourselves. Those whose world can include leading others, their job is to expand the worlds of others, without losing theirself.

Like a heart, our education hub beats the pulse of all those who pass through it, feeding all the vital organs in the system which in turn touch every other aspect of “the body.” Secondary schools, business, government, libraries, media centers will be in constant communication and exchange so that our education system meets the needs of our people. This is place all people touch and pass through on a regular basis. As members of this social system we live a principle of transferring knowledge to each other, demanding that special attention be given to providing and receiving education services continually on an individual level. This is not to say that transferring knowledge is done only in classroom settings. The redesign of education will support the spectrum of learning styles and learning environments across a broad range of subject matters, commensurate with the diversity of minds we have living around us.

Our ‘Heart Hub’ is built including an imperative for convenient access to the homes, restaurants, shopping and entertainment facilities. An extremely high level of functional, aesthetic and meaningful design will prevail, inspiring our body, mind and soul. This heart serves everything and when combined with the brain distributes intelligence across the entire system; utilizing an innate human capability to self-organize.