The project teams in the easy town story

I cannot think of a single aspect of the town, its economy, its design or its people that might not be of interest to us. In fact, part of our initial work will be to identify everything that makes a town tick.
At its core the Easy Town experiment is about being curious, about trying out visions, about exploring and playing around with ideas, testing the limits of the possible, daring to try out the unconventional, questioning the inevitable, allowing for complexity.
In short, Easy Town is an attempt to interweave all aspects of human well-being into a consistent, living and breathing whole.’
Someone started to clap. And after some reluctance, everyone in the room joined in, mostly politely.
‘Well, thank you,’ Alice said with a smile. Not quite the lopsided cheeky smile, but she seemed to be OK.
She went to the whiteboard, next to the window, and uncovered it. A chart showed seven circles, six grouped around the central circle: Design.
‘As you can see, there will be seven main teams: Design, Health and Care, Economics and Business, Ecology and Agriculture, Arts and Crafts, Admin and Society, Research and Education. Each team has main tasks, but close cooperation between all teams will be crucial. Since I believe that design is essential to every aspect of our town, I placed the Design Team at the centre of this chart. So, let’s start with Design. One of the principles of Easy Town will be beauty and—’
‘Why beauty?’ a woman at the back of the room interrupted.
‘Simple. Because our town is about healing. I don’t mind experimental designs. But when I go home, I want to feel well, not challenged or repulsed.’
This earned Alice some chuckles.
‘Beauty?’ a man in a corner smirked. ‘Is that why Jack Harris is here?’
This time everyone laughed.
Jack tried to chuckle, but he was annoyed. Even more so when Alice gave him a cheeky smile before she addressed her audience again. ‘No doubt, Jack Harris is beautiful. But when you talk to him, you’ll notice that there’s more to him than meets the eye. And that’s what Easy Town could become: a place that is a feast for our senses, and a place that has substance at the same time. Something real inside and outside.’

book 1, beginning

The project team had over two hundred members by now. Seven teams, seven main team leaders, quite a few sub-team leaders, and Leo’s team who coordinated them all.
The seven teams had very different sizes, from twelve members in the small teams to nearly fifty in Design.
Alice was pleased that they had achieved a good mix of people within the team. There were over fifty professions represented, ages ranging from twenty-two to seventy-two, near parity between female and male team members, and a good crowd of people with other gender identities, over ten nationalities and more diverse origins, and every conceivable dress preference.
It was at the party that they all came together for the first time. Most people were testing the water, and there was this kind of excitement that comes up whenever people feel just a little rebellious — in a good way.

book 1, beginning, week 1