City of the Future

As you might have heard, Sidewalk Labs became a part of Google at the beginning of 2022. So City of the Future has been on hiatus...BUT I’m still creating podcasts that I think CotF listeners would like. And I’d like to share them with you all! Urban Roots. If you enjoyed City of the Future season 4, which was all about equitable development, then you should definitely check o

E-S-G. If you haven’t heard that term before, it stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. It’s a framework that investors use to help them decide whether or not to put money into a company. Over the last 20 years, investors have increasingly embraced the “E” in ESG, and ESG funds are now consistently driving strong returns. In fact, 2020 was the biggest year for ES

In the early 20th century, many U.S. factories were located in urban cores, where workers could easily access their jobs. But the benefit of proximity also meant workers lived near loud, polluting factories. And as we know from the history of zoning in the U.S., low-income people frequently had no option but to live in neighborhoods built around intense industrial use. The conseque

Innovation ecosystems — places where companies and anchor institutions cluster and connect with startups, incubators, and smaller accelerators — are far from a new urban trend. As technology has become core to our economy in the past few decades, big coastal cities like Boston, San Francisco, and Seattle have become big tech innovation ecosystems, attracting more and more talen

Cities throughout the U.S. (and around the world) are struggling with the many issues that come with neighborhood growth and displacement. But what if, instead of being negatively impacted by development, residents benefited from it instead? In this episode — part two of our two-part series on new models for wealth-building — we explore “neighborhood REITS,” a model that he

Cities across the U.S. are suffering from dire housing crises. Housing supply is low, and prices are high — in some cities, sky high. And wages and income aren't keeping up. Many struggle to make rent, let alone save for a home. So it’s no wonder that affordable housing programs often focus on getting people into homes — people need help now. But we also need long-term soluti

The process of real estate development is critical to urban life. Without it, we’d have no homes, no stores, no community centers. But development isn’t working for everyone. All too often, new projects advance without sufficient concern for affordability, economic opportunity, or long-term vibrancy. But as Sidewalk Labs' Head of Urban Development Alison Novak tells us, 2020 m

The pandemic has forced us to reexamine and reimagine how we use one of our most precious public spaces: our streets. From outdoor dining to expanded bike lanes, cities have been re-designing streets so they can be better shared by all — drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians alike. But could we take this idea even further? What if we could use design and technology to make our str

For about a century, architects and developers have dreamed of the promise of factory-based construction — after all, if Henry Ford revolutionized the auto industry with assembly lines, why shouldn’t we be able to make buildings in factories, too? But, in North America at least, almost every attempt to revolutionize this industry has failed. But now, thanks to innovations in de

In an era of remote work, when people can work from anywhere, where will they choose to live? And what can cities do to set themselves apart from the competition? In this episode, we look at the ways remote work could change not just the way we live in cities — but which cities we live in, too. In this episode: [0:01 - 4:47] Tulsa Remote community manager Taylor Allen tells her