Edge City Podcast: Devon Zuegel & Janine Leger on building Edge Esmeralda

Links

Spotify  | Apple Podcasts | YouTube

Description

In this inaugural episode of the Edge City Podcast, host Timour Kosters sits down with Devon Zuegel and Janine Leger to explore Edge Esmeralda, a pop-up village experiment they organized in June 2024 that brought together 1,300 people who believe the future can be better and are actively working to make it happen

Devon is an accomplished writer and thinker with a background in software engineering and a deep passion for cities. She’s currently working on Esmeralda, a new town project that blends the charm of an Italian hill town with the vibrancy of a year-round family summer camp. Janine, Timour’s co-founder at Edge City, previously led the grants program at Gitcoin and was a co-creator of Zuzalu, a pioneering popup city that explored new models of communal living and collaboration.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

02:40 What was Edge Esmeralda?

05:30 Inspiration and historical context

10:37 Building community and culture

17:41 Highlights of Edge Esmeralda

29:03 Challenges and learnings

36:54 Looking ahead: future plans

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