The story of Verdal - how one intelligent community uses systems engineering to enable sustainable development

摘要

Verdal is a small community in mid-northern Norway, with a culturally significant historical tradition dating back to 1030. The town has reinvented itself to keep abreast of changing times; moving from an agriculturally based economy to an industrial region. The changes have been mostly evolutionary and unscripted until 1999 when a downturn in the business of the largest employer threatened the welfare of the entire community. Today, Verdal is one of the most stable and admired communities in Norway. To remain that way, they are embarking on a new initiative using systems engineering to ensure sustainable growth. This is their story. This paper provides a case history of how systems engineering is being applied to a non-traditional application domain - sustainable development - in the context of an "intelligent community" in Norway. The case is allegorical and has relevance for practitioners in city planning and manufacturing.