Designing Urban Spaces: The Impact of Architectural Scale on Urbanism

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Architectural scale can greatly influence urbanism. Bold, functional designs can sometimes lack human scale, detracting from street life. This is evidenced in Singapore's urban planning, creating vast green spaces and towers that appear impressive but are not functional or welcoming. Mid-rise development, as seen in Paris, with lower buildings and better street life, can use land efficiently and create beloved communities.

What if we built cities focused around community, leveraging technology to actually increase human connection, health, and fulfillment? Devon Zuegel, the leader of Edge Esmeralda—a pop-up village that took place in June 2024—joins Possible to discuss how she is reimagining cities to optimize for community. In this episode, Devon, Aria, and Reid get into why designing cities with intention can impact quality of life and strengthen communities. Devon shares what she has learned from Edge Esmeralda—and what she plans to build from here.

Read the transcript of this episode here.

For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all the episodes, visit https://www.possible.fm/podcast/

Topics:

2:20 - Hellos and intros

4:39 - Computers are like gardens

6:25 - Fictional Cities

8:15 - Cities are the platforms we build our lives on

10:10 - City as a networks and places of opportunities

13:40- Best and worst designed cities

15:40 - AI element

19:20 - What is Edge Esmerelda?

26:00 - Devon’s learnings thus far

31:50- Scaling Cities of the Future

36:30- Intersections between technology and cities

39:10- Philosophical manifestos of cities

43:30- Devon’s thoughts on California Forever

44:10 -Rapid-fire Questions

Select mentions:

Edge Esmerelda ( https://www.edgeesmeralda.com/welcome)

Chautauqua (https://devonzuegel.com/chautauqua-an-idea-embedded-in-a-place)

Possible is an award-winning podcast that sketches out the brightest version of the future—and what it will take to get there. Most of all, it asks: what if, in the future, everything breaks humanity's way? Tune in for grounded and speculative takes on how technology—and, in particular, AI—is inspiring change and transforming the future. Hosted by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger, each episode features an interview with an ambitious builder or deep thinker on a topic, from art to geopolitics and from healthcare to education. These conversations also showcase another kind of guest: AI. Whether it's Inflection’s Pi, OpenAI’s ChatGPT or other AI tools, each episode will use AI to enhance and advance our discussion about what humanity could possibly get right if we leverage technology—and our collective effort—effectively.