Makes a Commitment to Become a 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.
The State of Telecommunications in San Diego
The much-heralded development of "information 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 independent 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:
Cooperation between the private and public sectors is essential to achieve the benefits that technology affords us.
Mayor's Advisory Committee Inaugural Meeting
On April 28, 1993, the Mayor's Advisory Committee on the City of the Future held its inaugural meeting. The mission of the Committee 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,
- to build widespread community awareness for the concept of the city of tomorrow, today.
Committee Recommendations
The Committee recommends the City:
Telecommunications and Information Technology
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.
The Pivotal Role of Cities in Communications
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 ecompasses all elements of the community to ensure access to the business, provessional, educational, health and social benefits that are the promise of a universally accessible, advanced communications infrastructure. The Committee conluded that San Diego has a choice: to let the future arrive as it will, shaped by events and cirumstance, or 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.
If your organization can contribute to the City of the Future effort or you would like some more information on the latest developments, send email to Cindy Hicks, Executive Assistant at: chicks@mail.sdsu.edu or send postal letters to:The International Center for Communications
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Drive
Professional Studies and Fine Arts
San Diego, CA 92182-4522
USA
