Like a number of technology leaders at urban universities, I remain hopeful that as the final details of the stimulus package come together, infrastructure funds for inner-city computer networking remain part of the vision of 21st-century America.

In my last blog post, I outlined the opportunity for a new urbanism, which I called the emergent smart city. I’d argue that we’ll also soon see a new form of economy and human habitat, what I would call the “connected village.” Just as important as wiring urban areas is making sure that superfast broadband connects the very edge of the network in rural towns and villages, just beyond the bright lights of our cities.

What has become clear is that as much as $2.5-billion in stimulus will be made available to support a rural infrastructure project as important as electrification was during the New Deal. Back then, universities extended a model of agricultural extension that served as an integrated program supporting technology, teaching, research, and new economic opportunities for as much as 25 percent of the population that lived in rural America.

Today less than 5 percent of Americans live in rural communities. The industrial age beckoned and seduced the rural population to the vibrancy and opportunity of a manufacturing economy based in our cities. In an era of relative scarcity, those seeking opportunities to educate themselves and their children saw cities, with their many colleges, as prime destinations.

The future of the economy and the jobs of the 21st century need no longer be centered on a 20th-century urban/suburban model. In much of the world, economic crises and subsequent restructurings have lead to severe dislocation — and in many cases an increase in population movements out of cities.

A quilt of connected outer-ring rural villages may represent part of a model that might help to reduce the negative impact of the likely dislocation that faces much of this country’s population over the next 10 years. Smaller intentional communities stitched together with ultra-fast network connectivity could be one part of a new, sustainable habitat strategy. Following evidence of similar activities in Asia and Nordic countries of Europe, public libraries, public broadcasting, museums, and universities in this country may be afforded an opportunity to help reinvent what it might mean to serve the needs of a quilt of connected villages.

The Internet has made it possible to connect classrooms in far-flung corners of the world. Research is conducted by collaborators whose physical distance has less impact than ever, as labs are connected through the Net. As rural connectivity is realized, health-care education and health-care delivery will be more readily available. The back offices of our service economy can be linked over a fully connected grid, in which customer service or other operations can be fulfilled almost anywhere.

The return of a “small is beautiful” lifestyle, combined with many of the important attributes of once exclusively urban experience are now possible. This need not be a mythical or romantic return to premodern times. Bringing some of the best of yesteryear forward to the world of ultra broadband may lead to a renaissance of village and community life, reconnecting to sustainable economies and healthy lifestyles while remaining connected to the educational, entertainment, health-care, and many other amenities of the city.

Will universities be as agile and adaptive in the 21st century in creating an engagement strategy for connected villages as earlier generations of leaders were in establishing our rural extension programs? The ground is fertile for those prepared to experiment and innovate. —Lev Gonick

Lev Gonick, this month’s guest blogger, is CIO at Case Western Reserve University.