Smart Cities require many specialities: how do we develop the skills sets required?
I was recently elected a Senior Member of IEEE, and become part of the IEEE Smart Cities Initiative. Their first conference is in Guadalajara later this month (sites.ieee.org/isc2/) where I have a lead role in the Smart Citizens theeme. This conference is a timely opportunity to engage with the consortium of Latin America, European and US Universities working towards a common Smart Cities Masters curriculum. Its fully understood that we need many different specialities to be introduced, but how best to do this? Tokenism if it is superficial? My current working hypothesis is that the specific skill of adapting to understand the languages and cultures of different disciplines is a central skill to foster.This is as a result of having mentored a group of advanced PhD students across a dozen disciplines at a major University to work together and understand each others' 'languages'.. their own feed back suggest that this skill can be fostered and is highly valued both as a process and as an outcome when it is enabled. Mentoring appears to be a workable strategy to achieve this, but there are reservations as to how effective this can be if not done in physical proximity (a research project that we need in itself) . My LinkedIn network is remarkably diverse, and I would love to hear what different people from different backgrounds an experiences feel about the issues I have introduced in this posting..and it is very timely as I expect to be in Guadalajara to explore these issues with the people already involved in the curriculum and process development.
Private Practice of Law, American Baptist Mnistry
9yI like this topic. The Tower of Babel, the "two peoples separated by a single language" discussion. In psychology, we used "operant" or "operational definition" terminology. You won't get it all the first time. It will take people in the room to raise their hand and ask what is meant. And the patience of the person at the head of the room the insight to get that nothing will get done if the text it too ambiguous. Good luck Marcus!
Transport & urban strategy
9yinteresting topic. I like your idea of developing the experience of working between the various 'languages'. To be honest though, the hardest discussion is invariably the one about how a masters degree is an 'entry level' credential in today's multifaceted world - particularly in advanced realms such as 'smart cities'. I find that people either recognise this intuitively, or don't... but its the ones who don't for whom the conversation is so hard... I say all this as a 'practical' person, not as an education snob.
Director at DHC Loop Connections
9yCan specific skills of being adaptable be trained or are they more about core personal constructs? Does the question need to be reframed to encourage more creative people to take an interest in studying and working in the field. Often people with technical skills can be less flexible.