5 City + Tech Stories to Read Monday, 11/16 ๐
Airbnb IPO on deck, suburbs shift for Biden, NYC's first "streetery" builders
Good morning, everyone! It's John.ย
Welcome to Urban Tech's new weekly Monday morning format. I'm hoping it's as strong and bold as your morning coffee, tea, or juice โ๏ธ ๐ต ๐ง
In addition to our long-form pieces on Thursdays, weโll now share a shorter edition on Monday mornings featuring important stories (less than 10) about cities and tech. These are the stories entering the week that you should have on your radar as folks who care about cities and tech.
Please let me know your thoughts on formatting to make the new Monday UT editions as useful to you as possible. Hit reply to this email or message me at john@urbantechnews.net with your thoughts.
Separate from the stories in todayโs issues, thereโs one major event this week that I wanted to call your attention towards: according to Dan Primack at Axios, Airbnbโs long-awaited S-1 documents (critical materials for the IPO process) will drop later today.
For our readers interested in the Airbnb IPO finance/investment angle, one of my favorite thinkers on tech business trends, Mario Gabriele (founder and writer of The Generalist), is putting together a fantastic group of brilliant people to analyze Airbnb's IPO. (Some of Mario's S-1 group also read Urban Tech, so I'm sure you'll love their thoughts on Airbnbโs IPO.)
2 final notes before we get to the essential stories:
On Urban Tech Thursday, I'll explore the growing trend of Accessory Dwelling Units (aka granny flats or backyard cottages). I'll broadly look at the ADU trend and outline some exciting players in the space. If you have ideas or know someone who has opinions on ADUs, please let me know by hitting reply to this email.
Don't forget: last week, we launched the Urban Tech Election Results Guide: 2020. The shared resource is our living project for trying to understand how this past election cycle (local, state, and federal races) impacted the urban tech space.
We are in this for the long-game. Check out the guide so you can know why this election matters for cities.
Okay, letโs dive in.
5 City + Tech Stories to Read Monday, 11/16 ๐
Politico: Why Biden didnโt do better in big cities
As we outlined in Urban Techโs Election Impact Guide, suburbs seem to be the critical shift that propelled Bidenโs win.
โDemocrats were counting on massive big-city margins this year, hoping to avoid a repeat of four years ago when unexpectedly low voter turnout in several key cities helped Donald Trump win the presidency. But it was suburbia โ not large cities โ that delivered the over-the-top margins that put Joe Biden in the White House. And in at least a handful of cities in key battleground states this month, Trump actually ran slightly better than in 2016.โ
Americaโs suburbs are diversifying and urbanizing in unique ways when compared to the development of older cities like New York City or Boston.
Amanda Hurley, an editor at Bloomberg, is a great Twitter follow if youโre looking to stay informed on crucial suburban and city trends.
She even wrote a book โ Radical Suburbs โ where she explores reasons why suburbs are far more complicated than most of us might originally think.
Keep in mind: The trends we look at for Urban Tech are relevant to all folks who think about making big cities, suburbs, and small towns better communities to live. Tech is a big part of it all.
Bloomberg CityLab: Paris's 15-Minute City Could Be Coming to an Urban Area Near You
โFrom Paris to Portland, cities are attempting to give residents everything they need within a few minutes of their front doors. Can it workโwithout leaving anyone out?"
When thinking about the long-term vision for transportation innovation, I find it easy to forget what the end-goal looks like.
This Citylab piece from Feargus O'Sullivan and Laura Bliss provides one of the best ways to think about where transportation innovation might all be going.
The image of Paris also gave me a straightforward visual way of thinking about it all working together.
Equally as important: They present us with important questions to keep in mind to ensure innovation rewards are shared evenly across groups and communities.
We love a good profile piece at Urban Tech, especially when it highlights someone who changed a city.ย
Lisa Stiffler at Geekwire profiles a key player and contributor in the evolution of Seattle's tech scene, Tom Alberg.
You have to go far beyond "helping launch Seattle tech" to describe Alberg's impact on the city and region:
โAlberg, who turned 80 this year, has played an essential role establishing the bedrock of the regionโs tech economy. But what has endeared him to many has been his relentless drive to make his hometown a better place. He has served as a startup mentor, helped launch the Alliance of Angels investment group, and acted in leadership roles for the Pacific Science Center, the Intiman Theatre, the Technology Alliance, fundraising for the University of Washington, and created the nonprofit Oxbow Farm and Conservation Center.โ
New York Magazineโs Curbed Section: Meet NYC's First Professional Streetery Builders
A few weeks ago, when I was in New York, I couldnโt stop thinking about the innovation small businesses deployed when given expanded street use.
The most common example is restaurants expanding seating for outdoor dining (see a semi-bad quality photo below showing an example from my trip).
Valeria Ricciulli at Curbed (which is now a dedicated section of New Magazine) wonderfully profiles the builders helping make the trend happen. She also answers many of the questions I had after my trip like, โhow much does it cost ?โ
โIn less than a year, New York City streeteries have quickly developed from colorful wood fences around chairs and tables to covered, cabinlike structures โ and bubbles โ with lighting, planters, and heating. The first ones were knocked together by restaurant staff, but as the weather changed (along with the cityโs requirements), the building of these things had gone pro. DB Partners, a construction company based in NYC, is among the larger specialists, having built nearly 20 streeteries, and is in the process of building dozens of others.โ
TechCrunch: REEF Technology raises $700M from SoftBank and others to remake parking lots
Some parts of commercial real estate, particularly ones with logistics and tech angles, continue strong momentum in the face of COVIDโs massive impact on the commercial real estate sector.
โIt seems like SoftBank and the Mubadala Corp. arenโt finished taking big swings at the commercial real estate business in the U.S. Even after the collapse of WeWork, the investors are doubling down on a similar business model as part of a syndicate investing $700 million into REEF Technology.โ
โLike WeWork, REEF leases most of the real estate it operates and upgrades it before leasing it to other occupants (or using the spaces itself). Unlike WeWork, the business actually has a fair shot at working out โ especially given business trends that have accelerated in response to the health and safety measures implemented to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.โ
We also covered Ghost Kitchens in Urban Tech in July. The piece is worth checking out if you want to learn more about the trend. I know we will be covering it again soon.
Several Interesting Tweetsย
Similar to a like or retweet on Twitter, inclusion in this section isnโt an endorsement of the authorโs idea. Inclusion means Urban Tech found it interesting or thought-provoking.
Thanks for reading! Talk to you on Thursday. Donโt forget to share Urban Tech with friends and colleagues!
ย โ๏ธ JT