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An Optimist's View of Construction Projects and Programs

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I recently had a chance to see a tremendous film at the Boston Museum of Science, in the Mugar Auditorium (in IMAX mode).  The film was “Cities of the Future”.  It was narrated by John Krasinski of “The Office” fame, and for those of you who are fans, you’ll understand that I kept thinking I would see him (as his character, Jim Halpern) turn to the camera and make an ironic face (as below)  However, that did not happen. 

It's OK.  If I want more of this, I can watch reruns.  

What did happen is that I saw – rather, experienced – a heartwarming, uplifting, optimistic view of some amazing infrastructure projects in progress, and some being imagined.  The film takes you on sweeping, beautiful views of Amsterdam, Singapore, Los Angeles and more, featuring construction projects that should inspire you as a project leader.

Here’s the trailer from the film:

 

As an example of one of the featured completed projects, here is an example from The Netherlands:  The Edge – a building in Amsterdam considered the greenest building in the world, and featuring 30,000 sensors connected to a single app for the community, making it also one of the smartest, most connected buildings on the planet.  Bloomberg has produced a wonderful 5-minute video about it which, although not the IMAX movie, gives you a sense of what kinds of wonders you’ll find in Cities of the Future.  Please have a look:

Although the projects were amazing and fascinating, it may be a program that really touched my heart.  

One of the most heartwarming threads of the film was the coverage of the Future City competition.  This is a STEM program for kids in Middle School and High School.  It’s a science fair on steroids.  more than 85,000 students annually from the US, Canada, China, Egypt, and Nigeria and other countries.

The kids are so passionate and interested in their projects.  If we could capture even one-tenth of this energy for our projects (construction or otherwise) and sprinkle it on our teams (and you can do this as a project leader), imagine the innovation and motivation it would produce.

Do you want to be inspired?  Watch this:

Or this:

I’m planning to do a follow-up post on some of the other content from the film, so be on the lookout here at People, Planet, Profits, and Projects.  But in the meantime, I do urge you to watch the short videos contained here for some inspiration and optimism!  I think we need it.

 


Posted by Richard Maltzman on: August 27, 2025 10:32 AM | Permalink

Comments (4)

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Kwiyuh Michael Wepngong
Community Champion
Financial Management Specialist | US Peace Corps Yaounde, Centre, Cameroon
Thanks...

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Andrea Harvie Operations PM, Service Performance and Development| City of Guelph Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Thanks! I didn't know about the Edge!

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Lissette Indhira Pimentel Sosa
Community Champion
Program Manager| HARPER SRL Santo Domingo / Distrito Nacional, Dominican Republic
Thanks for sharing!

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Gwenola Michaud
Community Champion
Project Manager & Advisor| Geosciences & Monitoring Consulting Milano, Italy
Thank you for this inspiring topic relative to Smart Cities and education, sharing knowledge and info.

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