According to Steven Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas Come From (2010), a liquid network connects people and their ideas. During the early 14th century, the coffee houses in northern Italy served as liquid networks responsible for the explosion of ideas and innovation that gave birth to the early Renaissance.
To get the job done, liquid networks need sufficient structure to avoid chaos while allowing for "ad hoc" changes along the way. Such changes could be a new public-private partnership, a change in the organizational chart, moving (or removing) a wall in the office, or even a change in policy that incorporates a longstanding "work around" that is finally given the credit it deserves.
Today, there are many examples of the "information spillover" that comes with liquid networks. Modern day coffee shops and the online "hangout" spaces. Salons where people share ideas (and not just to get their hair cut). Life science "incubators" where professionals come together and donate their services in support new start-up companies. The new partnership in Philadelphia where an urban hospital and a public library have joined forces to create a health and literacy center on the city's south side. Even the creation of universal care platforms in the hospital ER allows for quick changes in the use of space and other high-cost inputs necessary in delivering critical care.
Liquid networks. Enough said.
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