NEXT EVENT
EDGE ESMERALDA
JUNE 2026
CALIFORNIA
11:34:22AM
63° AND CLEAR SKY
→ EDGE ESMERALDA
38.6082° N, 122.8701° W
PROTOTYPING THE FUTURE...
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Edge City is a society incubator:

A global network of popup villages where people at the frontiers of technology, science, and culture live together and experiment toward a brighter future.

12,000+
participants
$1m+
in grants allocated to builders
100+
countries represented
300+
startups & projects

What is Edge City?

Edge City creates environments for real-world experimentation at the frontiers of technology, science, and culture. How we do it: 

☀︎ We host monthlong popup villages around the world.

☀︎ We fund builders through grants and fellowships.

☀︎ We accelerate startups, research, and new fields.

And we're building a global network of communities dedicated to advancing human flourishing.

Learn more: About Us

The Popup Village

Each village lasts a month. A few hundred people from across technology, science, and culture move in to live, learn, and build side by side.

☀︎ Default healthy living

☀︎ Multidisciplinary collaboration

☀︎ A culture of building and co-creation

☀︎ Multigenerational community

The temporary format creates urgency: people arrive with ideas and leave with projects, companies, and collaborators.

Learn more: What is a Popup Village?

What Gets Built at Edge City?

Our villages have helped to accelerate hundreds of projects across several areas:  

☀︎ Startups: Constellation, Ami

☀︎ Applied research: Vasocomputation, DIY biolabs

☀︎ New fields: d/acc, Digital Democracy, Consciousness

☀︎ New towns: Esmeralda, Gelephu Mindfulness City

Builders come to Edge City to test their ideas with a live community of innovators.

They find collaborators, early users, and the momentum to take their projects to the next level.

Learn more about the Ecosystem.

Why This Matters

The institutions we inherited were built for a different era. As technology accelerates, we need new environments to develop the culture, governance, and systems that will shape what comes next.

Edge City is where that work happens: real people testing real ideas in real communities, then carrying what works back into the world.

We are building toward a global network of interconnected villages and permanent hubs where ideas travel between locations, adapt, and compound over time.

Learn more about our Roadmap.

~/ What is Edge City

Edge City creates environments for real-world experimentation at the frontiers of technology, science, and culture. How we do it:
☀︎ We host monthlong popup villages around the world.
☀︎ We fund builders through grants and fellowships.
☀︎ We accelerate startups, research, and new fields.
And we're building a global network of communities dedicated to advancing human flourishing.
About Us

~/ The Popup Village

Each village lasts a month. A few hundred people from across technology, science, and culture move in to live, learn, and build side by side.
Four principles shape every village:
☀︎ Default healthy living
☀︎ Multidisciplinary collaboration
☀︎ A culture of building and co-creation
☀︎ Multigenerational community

The temporary format creates urgency: people arrive with ideas and leave with projects, companies, and collaborators.

Learn more: What is a Popup Village?

~/ What Gets Built at Edge City

Our villages have helped to accelerate hundreds of projects across several areas:
☀︎ Startups: Constellation, Ami
☀︎ Applied research: Vasocomputation, DIY biolabs
☀︎ New fields: d/acc, Digital Democracy, Consciousness
☀︎ New towns: Esmeralda, Gelephu Mindfulness City
Builders come to Edge City to test their ideas with a live community of innovators.

They find collaborators, early users, and the momentum to take their projects to the next level.
Learn more about the Ecosystem.

~/ Why This Matters

The institutions we inherited were built for a different era. As technology accelerates, we need new environments to develop the culture, governance, and systems that will shape what comes next.
Edge City is where that work happens: real people testing real ideas in real communities, then carrying what works back into the world.

We are building toward a global network of interconnected villages and permanent hubs where ideas travel between locations, adapt, andcompound over time.
Learn more about our Roadmap.

Experiments & Incubations

~/ Projects

Edge City is a space for experimentation, where big ideas are tested and projects are accelerated. Here is a list of initiatives that were born, incubated, or iterated on at Edge. Reach out if you’d like to bring something transformative to life here.

{DYNAMIC HEADING}

{CONTENT DYNAMICALLY PULLED FROM EXPERIMENTS COLLECTION.}

~/ Concept Clinic

Edge City is a space for experimentation, where big ideas are tested and projects are accelerated.

Here is a list of initiatives that were born, incubated, or iterated on at Edge. Reach out if you’d like to bring something transformative to life here.

~/ Crecimiento

Edge City is a space for experimentation, where big ideas are tested and projects are accelerated.

Here is a list of initiatives that were born, incubated, or iterated on at Edge. Reach out if you’d like to bring something transformative to life here.

~/ RadicalxChange

Edge City is a space for experimentation, where big ideas are tested and projects are accelerated.

Here is a list of initiatives that were born, incubated, or iterated on at Edge. Reach out if you’d like to bring something transformative to life here.

~/ Cursive

Edge City is a space for experimentation, where big ideas are tested and projects are accelerated.

Here is a list of initiatives that were born, incubated, or iterated on at Edge. Reach out if you’d like to bring something transformative to life here.

~/ Daimo

Edge City is a space for experimentation, where big ideas are tested and projects are accelerated.

Here is a list of initiatives that were born, incubated, or iterated on at Edge. Reach out if you’d like to bring something transformative to life here.
~/ World Payment Experiment
Frontier Tech

~/ World Payment Experiment

A partnership with World to test whether crypto-native payments, identity, and mobile coordination tools could support a community of 750 people over a full month at Edge City Patagonia.

Around 500 participants (70% of the village) downloaded World App, 33 local merchants in San Martín de los Andes were onboarded, and over $44,000 flowed through the system.

~/ Crecimiento
Community

~/ Crecimiento

A movement turning Argentina into a frontier technology hub. What started as a builder community has grown into 1,200+ active contributors and a network of 1,000+ startups, with real government infrastructure behind it, including a digital Special Economic Zone framework with global ambitions.

~/ NODES
Frontier Tech

~/ NODES

A deep tech consultancy that creates focused expert collectives around frontier technology challenges. Co-founded by Lou de Kerhuelvez and Aleksandra Smilek from the Foresight Institute, NODES has organized programs spanning AI, biotech, anddecentralized science across Edge City and beyond.

~/ Agartha
Community

~/ Agartha

A creative studio and global network incubating solarpunk communities. Co-founded by Nico Shi and Jeremy Dela Rosa, Agartha runs month-long creativity residencies where artists and technologists co-live alongside a locally operated AI companion trained on the group's collective memory.

~/ Community Currency
Governance

~/ Community Currency

A RadicalxChange experiment in alternative economic systems. Hundreds of participants traded 'edges' for everything from dinner parties and airport rides to photography and coding help. By month's end, each edge had appreciated from $0.20 to an estimated $1-10 through network effects. Later iterations introduced quadratic scoring, physical markets, and fiscal stimulus programs, advancing the experiment toward a genuine community banking system.

~/ Vasocomputation
Research

~/ Vasocomputation

A theory by neuroscience researcher Michael Edward Johnson proposing that the brain's vascular system is an active computational layer. Blood vessel smooth muscle cells store predictions and unresolved experiences as physical tension through a "latch-bridge" mechanism, offering a biological explanation for how trauma gets held in the body and how contemplative practices can release it. We are running active experiments on vasocomputation across our popup villages.

~/ Esmeralda
New Town

~/ Esmeralda

A permanent walkable village taking shape in the hills of Cloverdale, 90 minutes north of San Francisco. Inspired by what emerged from our popup villages, Esmeralda is designed as a multigenerational neighborhood featuring up to 605 residences, an extraordinary hotel, a community piazza, event spaces, and a publicly accessible network of trails, playgrounds, and sports fields, all set against views of the Mayacamas Mountains.

~/ Constellation
Startup

~/ Constellation

Founded by Stanford neuroscientist Avery Krieger during the 2025 Long Journey Residency at Edge Esmeralda. Constellation builds AI foundation models trained on neural, physiological, and behavioral data to treat mental illness and power brain-computer interfaces. During the residency, Avery collected one of the largest multimodal neural datasets of its kind from village participants. The company has since raised $10M.

~/ World Payment Experiment
Frontier Tech
~/ Crecimiento
Community
~/ NODES
Frontier Tech
~/ Agartha
Community
~/ Community Currency
Governance
~/ Vasocomputation
Research
~/ Esmeralda
New Town
~/ Constellation
Startup

Grants

Edge City helps builders and researchers turn bold ideas into reality through grants, fellowships, and supportive communities.

We focus on projects that push boundaries and work to accelerate human flourishing. Read more about how we support builders here!
~/ Inflection Grants
Global Builders
~/ SHIFT Grants
d/acc
~/ Inflection Fellowship
Young Talent
~/ Residencies

From the Community

On what feels like to be a part of Edge City

Vitalik Buterin
Ethereum, Founder

"Edge City did an excellent job integrating diverse participants from all kinds of background: technical and non-technical, crypto, biotech and culture, young and old. I learned a lot from my time there."

Laura Deming
Until, Founder & CEO

"We could not have done this Longevity workshop with top researchers without Edge City. This is going to be one of those moments that people talk about in the future where so many impactful things were conceptualized."

Moxie Marlinspike
Signal, Founder

"Edge Esmeralda's ability to bring people together in temporary spaces that yield lifelong relationships — as well as life changing conversations and discoveries — makes me excited to see how that same energy imbues the permanent village Esmeralda is building."

Liam Horne
Tempo, World, ETHGlobal Co-Founder

"It's an eclectic group of optimists that push each other to learn and grow in their careers and live healthy and more meaningful lives. I love spending time with the people in the Edge City community."

Xochitl Cazador
Optimism Foundation, VP Operations

"I was so inspired by the caliber of people, different projects and ambitious concept. It shifted my perspective and reminded me of how important this industry is in helping make a positive change in the world."

Mark Tyneway
OP Labs, Co-Founder

"I never realized the possibility of social innovation until being part of the Edge community. There is no way that the way we organize our communities today is the best that civilization has to offer. We can dramatically improve our communities and quality of life through some space for experimentation and first principles thinking."

Rania Hashim
Edge City Lanna Fellow

"At the crossroads I was at being a fellow at Edge City was one of the most impactful things I could've done. It brought out a side of me that I really liked. It brought out a side of me that was open to trying new, weird experiences, hosting dinners and discussing theories on reincarnation over group hikes, while working on my own projects."

Justin Melillo
MONA, Founder & CEO

"Edge Esmeralda was one of the most valuable uses of my time last year - personally, professionally, and creatively. As a founder, I tested my product with real users. As an artist, I revived my drawing practice and am now publishing a book. And as a human, I found lifelong friends and a community building toward a better future."

Juan Benet
Protocol Labs,  Founder & CEO

"Edge City is unparalleled in its ability to cultivate multi-disciplinary ecosystems that accelerate progress in frontier industries like Cryptography, Neurotech and Longevity."

Adam Marblestone
Convergent Research, CEO

"The neurotech workshop I attended was extremely high signal and talent dense. I could not have had that discussion anywhere else."

Life at Edge City

Partners

We've been lucky to work with some of the world's leading institutions

Join the Movement

The institutions and norms we inherited were designed for a prior world. We need new environments to incubate new institutions and culture fit for our time.

The best way to build the future is to live in it.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.