A city is a complex system. It would make sense, then, to manage it as a system, to understand how each subsystem—transportation, energy, education, healthcare, public safety, etc.—supports a well-run and effective city system. It would make sense to coordinate these subsystems to optimize the city system. It would make sense to collaborate and innovate to reduce costs at a time when cities must cut costs, and to improve services at a time when citizens demand more of their cities.

“It is time for systemic solutions, enabled by technology, to build smarter cities that can reduce financial and human/social costs while increasing quality of life,” write Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Stanley S. Litow in a Harvard Business School working paper entitled, “Informed and Interconnected: A Manifesto for Smarter Cities” (June 15, 2009). The paper identifies eight challenges that cities face and offers examples of practices and programs that suggest possible solutions.

The authors conclude by noting that “real reform and community transformation will require that a new model be built, and built from the ground up.” I disagree. A model for community transformation already exists: the Baldrige model. It promotes systemic solutions. It addresses designing, managing, and improving effective and efficient subsystems. It calls for collaboration and innovation. And it provides a proven framework for evaluating and improving performance in every area important to a city’s success.

I encourage you to read the award application summary (pdf) of the City of Coral Springs, Florida, which received the Baldrige Award in 2007. The application doesn’t show the breadth of transformation that Kanter and Litow call for, but it does show the kinds of results the authors seek, such as:

• Crime rate lowest in the state and fourth lowest in the nation
• Better-than-benchmark response times by the fire department
• Schools that significantly outperform other schools in the region
• A 14-times greater return on economic development incentives in 2005 than in 1995
• 90% of business representatives likely to recommend the city as a place to run a business
• From 1996 to 2006, reduced accidents at major intersections by 40%
• Number of resident volunteer hours jumped from 17,515 in 1995 to 48,261 in 2006
• A residents’ overall quality rating of 93% in 2007

The City of Coral Springs is a benchmark for “real reform and community transformation.” The Baldrige model is the vehicle that can bring performance excellence to any city that seeks it.

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