While Charles Marohn began his career as an engineer, he soon realized that the problems plaguing American urban design - particularly in the suburbs - ran deep. So he quit his engineering job and began writing about how to redesign cities for livability and people rather than cars. His work - including books Strong Towns and Confessions of a Recovering Engineer - became very influential in the New Urbanist movement and the past decade of innovation in urban design and real estate development.

In this episode, Marohn joins Brad on the final episode of Season One of the Thesis Driven Leader Series to discuss the future of cities. We'll touch on the design and policy interventions that would save lives and improve our cities' finances as well as how real estate developers should approach designing better places. We'll also discuss the role that technology can - and cannot - play in making cities better.

Marohn brings a perspective and insights that will be relevant for anyone looking to innovate in the built world.

Real estate is nothing without people. Even the most beautiful, historic spaces occasionally need a boost, and Stephanie Blake is the magician making that happen. As CEO of Skylight, she’s responsible for activating spaces ranging from New York’s Moynihan Station and St. John’s Terminal to San Francisco’s Ferry Building and Detroit’s Michigan Central Station.

Blake has built a reputation working with governments, brands, and real estate developers to build a sense of place and activity in incredible and often unconventional spaces. This week, she speaks with Brad about how she uses placemaking activations to bring vibrancy, purpose, and community to real estate of all types.

Placemaking strategies have gained popularity for a variety of reasons; they help developers drive interim revenue, market a space that might be challenging for the public to understand and encourage businesses to come to an area that might otherwise be lacking. Skylight’s brand of activation is a powerful toolkit for developers and governments alike, particularly as cities reconsider the role of offices, gathering places and central business districts in a post-pandemic world.

Through her work, Blake puts her background in history to work. Each Skylight project begins with studying the context of space including both the history and the neighborhood. And it culminates working with brands to create extraordinary experiences in those spaces like NY Fashion Week, food festivals and concerts - to name just a few.

This interview is full of rich insights about how developers can position their spaces to be welcoming places from day one, including the power of a blank canvas and lessons for operators repurposing challenging spaces.

Spencer Rascoff has had an extraordinary career as a leading real estate tech founder and investor. As the founder of Zillow, he revolutionized how homebuyers, sellers, and agents market and discover listings. More recently, he launched Pacaso, a fractional ownership platform for second homes which now serves the owners of more than 1,400 homes.

Since leaving Zillow, Spencer has been a prolific figure in the real estate tech world - he’s been an active founder or executive in dozens of startups and an investor in hundreds through his VC fund 75 & Sunny and others.

We’re delighted to share Spencer’s unique perspective and predictions about the future of real estate and technology in this episode of the Thesis Driven Leader Series. In this conversation, Spencer and Brad discuss a number of topics including:

• The big opportunities in real estate right now, the problems that need solving
• What Spencer belives the most important proptech problem will be in the 2030s
• Where AI can be helpful in proptech (and where it probably won’t be)
• His take on the DOJ’s commissions lawsuit on the brokerage industry and real estate more broadly
• Spencer’s experience investing and his advice about the role investors should play in portfolio companies.

Enjoy! And if you’re enjoying our podcast, please visit www.thesisdriven.com for a deep dive into emerging real estate themes and the innovators capitalizing on them.