Building the Gigabit City: Brainstorming a Google Fiber Roadmap @smckc @kclibrary @brainzooming #gigabitcity #smckc

A little over a month ago, I was humbled to attend as a contributor Building the Gigabit City: Brainstorming a Google Fiber Roadmap, hosted by the Social Media Club of Kansas City.  There were about 80 of us invited from the global Kansas City business community, and our charge for the entire day was to brainstorm how the new Google Gigabit-speed Internet that will land in Kansas City in 2012 can have impact in the community.  Wow, I was amazed to spend so much time with these Kansas City thought leaders and explore the impact on my hometown.

I was asked to offer input in the Suburban Group – and it was incredible to offer my opinion as a life-long Suburbanite that recently moved Downtown KC and became a lover of all things Urban.  It was an interesting perspective and I sure did enjoy offering my thoughts on the matter.

We ended the day with a Press Conference where we shared the initial findings.

Then, strategy guru Mike Brown and his team with the Brainzooming Group went to work, compiling the hundreds of ideas into one streaming, flowing document, that was just released at a recent Press Conference back at the Kansas City Public Library Central Branch downtown.   Check out an awesome blog entry on the libraries take on the event.   (More on my thoughts on the library at another time, likely a Video Blog!)…

It was great to see the local media there last Thursday to soak up our thoughts of how to implement GigabitCity into something worthwhile, focused on the community and all things that mattered – the people of Kansas City.

If you’re interested in our results, click here to download the 120+ page document.  It’s an awesome read.  And, if you’d like to see my two pages in the document written from my perspective of the Suburban vs. Urban communization, check out pages 48 and 49, where I wrote a white paper titled, “The New Value of Community in Suburban Kansas City”.  Or, you can click below to read it here:

The New Value of Community in Suburban Kansas City

By Jason Cupp

As a life-long Kansas Citian, when I saw the news report some time ago that Google had awarded our community the first infrastructure for Gigabit speed internet, I was thoroughly excited.  Instantly, I thought, “We sure have come a long way since logging onto the internet via a telephone modem and using AOL as the interface” – and the fact that hometown KC was going to get this uber-speed internet connection was proof positive that it could have a monumental impact on our community.

And a monumental impact it can have on our community.

I grew up in South Johnson County, and lived, for the most part, in the suburbs my entire life.  Just recently, I made the trek across state lines and moved to Downtown Kansas City – the Crossroads District to be exact.  I was not sure if I would thoroughly enjoy the urban lifestyle – living in a loft building, the noise of the trains going in and out Union Station, cars zooming down Grand Boulevard at all hours of the night, the random food trucks that can make an appearance like a flash mob in parking lots, or the people… the community… the urban tick of relationships.

I was completely wrong about all of my potential misconceptions of why not to like urban living.  But what I was most wrong about was the sense of community that exists in the urban core of Downtown Kansas City.  You see, I was somewhat apprehensive about the move simply because, while living in Overland Park, I did not know any of my neighbors.  It was community-less.  In fact, when I had people over and a handful of cars would be on the street, one particular neighbor would call the police on me – saying I was having a large, loud party.  In fact, I was just hosting a family birthday party.  True story.

When I moved downtown, I immediately felt a strong sense of community.  Ironically, my neighbor next door offered me their wireless router password, because AT&T could not install my DSL for many weeks.  It was the beginning of a great friendship that was not only with that neighbor, but all of my neighbors.  We all have become good friends, and even traveled together recently to a wine event in California.  It’s called community, and genuine community.  I’ve often found myself thinking about why it was not the case in Overland Park.

When I was invited to join the brainstorm session for #GigabitCity, I was eager to share my thoughts and experience of how the lightening fast speed internet could make an impact on my newfound community in Downtown KC.   As is typical in my life, my expectations had to be adjusted.  I was asked to serve on the suburban team, to help determine ways that the impact could be enveloped into suburbia.  Initially, I was a bit confused, but then I remembered that I lived in Overland Park nearly my entire life and just recently moved downtown in the last few years, and I was known as a strong proponent of an urban lifestyle.  I immediately realized my charge – to share the difference between Suburban and Urban KC, and how Gigabit speed internet could assist in those differences.

The biggest, and most dynamic difference was clearly that of community.

I personally believe that each and every person desires an element of community in their life.  They want friends.  They desire to be close to family.  They want to be known by their neighbors.  To be waved at.  To know that they can lean on others around them when they need something – even if that is simply to borrow an egg, or with deeper impact – borrow an ear to be listened to.

GigabitCity can contribute to community in a variety of different ways.  Think of the impact that Facebook and Twitter have had on our lives.  It makes a bigger world smaller, at the same time, making a smaller world bigger.  I think of the impact that high speed internet can have on the way that neighborhoods can interact with one another – planning after-school groups for kids to study together, arranging virtual homes association meetings, having the ability to “attend” class even during a snow day.  It can, with certain constraints, break down walls of anti-community.  I have a lot of friends on Facebook and Twitter.  Legitimate friends.  Just last week, I attended a large conference out of town where many of those friends, that I interact with on those social medium platforms on a regular basis, were present.  It was amazing to run into those friends at dinner, or while watching the World Series, and we had a connection that was different if we had not “talked” in the last year.

Granted, our social media connection does not ever take the place of a real, face-to-face relationship… But, it did help us to know one another differently, and ultimately, better.  My hope is that GigabitCity, while properly used, implemented and executed, can help break down the socially awkward feeling of being cooped up in a suburban home and not know my neighbors well enough to even say hello.  I could see community events, school events, civic events, concerts, recitals, and other community-focused activities are easier to stream and interact with, that would all help contribute in a monumental way to an added sense of community.

Community is necessary, in my opinion, for a healthy life, lifestyle and satisfaction in who we are individually, as well as in a likeminded group, such as a family, neighborhood, workplace or school.  My hope and desire is that, as we continue to embark on how GigabitCity can have impact in our city, one of the deepest impacts it can have is on the people who live here – and to give them the lifeblood of a healthy sense of belonging, community, and ultimately a family we call Kansas City.  

Jason Cupp is a Kansas City based International Kolbe Certified Growth Consultant that travels constantly, but he always loves it when his plane touches down at Kansas City International Airport so he can experience the sense of community at his residence in the Crossroads District of Downtown KC.  For more information on Jason, visit www.jasoncupp.com or follow him on Twitter @jasoncupp.