The Green Changemakers: Ten Steps to a Creative and Innovative Community

http://www.smartcommunities.org

1. The " Creative and Innovative Community" must be well understood.
2. Ownership of the Creative and Innovative Community Concept must be broadly communicated.
3. A New Decision-making Mechanism must be created.
4. The Needs of the Community must be assessed and the community defined.
5. A Vision and Mission Statement must be developed.
6. Specific Goals and Priorities must be established.
7. A Strategic Plan for the Creative and Innovative Community Concept needs to be drafted.
8. Responsibilities must be clearly defined and Timelines established.
9. Community Linkages must be made.
10. Metrics must be established and progress constantly monitored.

A smart community is a community that has made a conscious effort to use information technology to transform life and work within its region in significant and fundamental rather than incremental ways. The goal of such an effort is more than the mere deployment of technology. Rather it is about preparing one's community to meet the challenges of a global, knowledge economy.
Founded in 1997, the Smart Community program was created by John M Eger Van Deerlin Endowed Chair of Communications and Public Policy and Executive Director of the International Center for Communications at San Diego State University.
The International Center chaired and staffed the first City of the Future initiative for the City of San Diego in 1992. Subsequently, the Center published a "Smart Communities Guidebook" and "Smart Communities Implementation Guide for the state of California".
More recently, the Center produced a monograph entitled "The Creative Community".
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As we anticipate a whole new economy based upon creativity and innovation, the dawn of the "Creative Age," as the Nomura Research Institute put it, we are more acutely aware of the importance of reinventing our business strategies, our corporations, our communities, our schools, our housing and land use policies and more.
While creative industries, according to the Americans for the Arts, are defined as "arts-related," creativity and innovation are vital to the success of all businesses. To ensure our success and survival in this new economy, we must sharpen our focus on training, nurturing and retaining the next generation of leaders for the Age of Creativity and Innovation.

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