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