This week on Smart City, the topic is how to respond to new realities and re-think future possibilities:

It’s always difficult to leave old ways behind and embrace the new. But our guests this week, working in very different fields, are dedicated to getting us to do just that.

Louis Glazer is urging policymakers in Michigan to let go of that state’s industrial past and move into a future based on knowledge and technology where success depends on people becoming more resourceful, life-long learners. Lou is president of Michigan Future, Inc. and he is currently involved in launching a high school designed to connect students to good-paying careers in the automotive industry.

Mickey McManus is working alongside public officials to re-think the world of libraries. It is typical of the kind of radical reconsideration of user needs that his firm MAYA performs routinely for its clients in many fields. MAYA is a design consultancy and technology research lab headquartered in Pittsburgh.

Smart City is broadcast on WKNO FM, 91.1, at 9 a.m. Sundays. It is also webcast and podcast at the Smart City website.