Case Study: Feÿtopia

To broaden our vision into 3D, let’s take a super oversimplified example of 500 people living as a community somewhere.

We seem especially primed for it now. Once Covid-era restrictions began to be loosened and people started hosting gatherings again, many were restless after extended periods of isolation. Many wanted to socialize, meet new people, and be in community with others. The fervor toward branded community has yet to subside and is only ramping up, especia... See more

The serendipitous ingredients for scenius are hard to control. ...  What Camp 4 illustrated is that the best you can do is NOT KILL IT. When it pops up, don’t crush it. When it starts rolling, don’t formalize it. When it sparks, fan it. But don’t move the scenius to better quarters. Try to keep accountants and architects and police and do-good... See more

As such, my thesis is that a fiercely loyal community (more on this below) coupled with effective governance (more on what this means in a follow-up post) should lead to product/market fit emerging organically from within the community.

That said, Soho House is not just a party palace. It’s an upscale archipelago, a hotel chain, a snug garrison for a pampered urban elite, a restaurant group, a digital play, a celebrity refuge, a coworking juggernaut, a royal love nest, a lifestyle brand, an elitist throwback, a gated community, and a state of mind.

Como Orchards 2044 is an imagined future for a real ranch in Montana where Frank Lloyd Wright designed a community back in 1908. This “newsletter” from the year 2044 is a dream of what could unfold over the next twenty years if we choose a more regenerative way of being on this planet based on many people’s real and imagined ideas.

When we treat it as axiomatic that small towns have no use or place for such people, that if you have ever liked a French movie you had better just hurry to the nearest city, we forget that part of being a community is leaving room for the diversity of human nature.