Building the Next Great American City | Esmeralda CEO Devon Zuegel

Devon Zuegel believes America has been building cities wrong for decades. She grew up spending summers in Chautauqua, an intellectual community in western New York where four generations of her family shared a household and she knew her neighbors better than the ones at home in California. Now she's building a village called Esmeralda 90 minutes north of San Francisco to prove that formula can be replicated.

I sat down with Devon in San Francisco to talk about harnessing urban planning as a powerful technological force for good, age-segregation in America and the impending population crisis, and why we need more incredible cities popping up across the country over the next 25 years.

Extended Show Notes: https://finnmurphyirl.substack.com/p/8bcb1293-d2f5-4c6c-a133-8a6d0826b839

Transcript (with helpful links!): https://finnmurphyirl.substack.com/p/forecast-2050-episode-7-devon-zuegel?r=25ihqz&triedRedirect=true

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:07 Chautauqua Inspires Esmeralda

03:02 Cities Are A Technology

06:33 The Autonomous Vehicle Takeover

10:02 The New Multigenerational Society

13:29 American Colleges Make the Economy Dynamic, but Break Up Families

17:39 Remote Work and the Expansion of the Metropolis

19:55 A Real Alternative to the Suburb/City Dilemma

22:21 Real Life Is The Classroom

26:04 Esmeralda’s Open Door Policy

27:59 Making Cities Worth Living In

32:51 The NIMBY Problem

35:10 The Digital-Physical Divergence

38:29 The Cities That Have Gotten It Right Before

Devon Zuegel is the founder and president of the Esmeralda Institute, where she is building Esmeralda, a village of the future just 90 minutes north of San Francisco envisioned as a Chautauqua for Silicon Valley.

Devon on X: https://x.com/devonzuegel

Devon’s Personal Site: https://devonzuegel.com/

Esmeralda Institute: https://esmeralda.org/

Forecast 2050 is a series about the next 25 years—and the builders, thinkers, and leaders shaping what comes next. 

Finn on X: https://x.com/FinnMurphy12

Finn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finn-murphy-16160465/

Nebular is a venture capital firm based in New York City. 

Head to nebular.vc for more info.