Sam Liebeskind

When systems that were designed for resilience are optimized instead for efficiency, they break.

Asynchronous forms of engagement can be synchronized with regular weekly or daily reports provided by the platform that serve something of the function that “talk of the town” columns in local newspapers used to provide.

There's a fantasy popular among technologists and policymakers that community can be engineered. That if you identify the right variables and apply the right interventions, you can produce community on demand. This fantasy has a name in the urbanist literature: it's called "new town syndrome," after the observation that Britain's postwar new towns,... See more

When you try to make something that solves everything, you obsess over questions of power: how to make something that is omnipotent and everlasting. But when you make something that does one thing well, the questions are much more personal: does it solve my problem? and for how long? and who for? and where will it push the space around it? I want... See more

I think our competitive aim is always been... This is going to sound like very basic but it’s true. It’s just we do what we say we’re going to do when we say we’re going to do it. We just try to practice extreme reliability. And it’s an accruing advantage because the more people know that you’ll do what you say you’re going to do, you’re going to... See more

In other words, having your life bound up with those around you for its whole duration can support creating a culture of generosity, trust, and cooperation, rather than one of inequality and individualism. Being in conflict with permanent neighbors, while also living in such a communal culture, can prove costly and stressful. Learning to cooperate,... See more

If you feel an undeniable pull to a city, don’t ignore it—go. I truly believe there’s a reason we’re drawn to certain places, and once you take the leap, things tend to fall into place. And here’s the thing: It doesn’t have to be permanent. You don’t have to plant roots for a lifetime; a year, eight months, or five years can be exactly what you... See more