What if building better cities didn’t have to take decades?

In this conversation, I sit down with Devon Zuegel of the Esmeralda Institute and Edge Esmeralda, to explore how a Solarpunk-inspired pop-up village in Northern California is creating new models for community, experimentation, and urban design.

We talk about what it means to build spaces that are human-scale, how aesthetics shape culture, and why California’s future still holds enormous promise — if we’re willing to rethink how we build.

Topics include:

• How Edge Esmeralda is shaping the design of a future permanent village

• Lessons learned from hosting 1,300 people in a pop-up city

• The real meaning of “solarpunk” (beyond the sci-fi aesthetics)

• Why California’s ‘resource curse’ demands bold experiments

• Building communities that can evolve, not just endure

If you care about the future of California — or the future of cities anywhere — this is a conversation worth hearing.

📍 Learn more about Edge Esmeralda: https://www.edgeesmeralda.com/

📬 Subscribe and you could win a CFS hat!: https://www.californiafuturesociety.com/subscribe

Chapters

00:00 Intro

08:43 What is Edge Esmeralda?

11:59 How Do You Prototype Community?

14:55 Lessons and Highlights from Year 1

22:46 Solarpunk and the Importance of Aesthetics

30:35 Come to Edge Esmeralda!

32:06 The California Identity

35:40 Escaping Stagnation in California

40:42 California's Resource Curse

43:20 Approaching Local Politics

49:44 Sources of Inspiration in California

Keywords

Edge Esmeralda, solar punk, California culture, community building, aesthetics, experimentation, local relationships, future of California, cultural identity, programming dynamics