A month-long gathering for people building a brighter future
Join our healthy, productive community built to incubate novel technologies & ways of living

This month-long popup is the first step towards a permanent new village: Esmeralda

Principles

Creation

Emphasis on Building

At Edge Esmeralda, we’re focused on building, moving beyond mere consumption of knowledge. The emphasis is on hands-on applications and experiments, with the goal of fostering new technologies, cultures, ideas, and organizations during our month together.

Multidisciplinary

We believe that there is huge potential for breakthroughs at the intersections of disciplines. Edge Esmeralda is designed to foster collaboration between people with diverse expertise—scientists, artists, engineers, urban planners, philosophers, mechanics, and beyond.

Healthy by Default

Healthy Living as the Norm

Our village promotes health and longevity as a default. This includes organized community workouts, nutritious meals made from local organic ingredients, weekly farmers markets, and partnerships with local restaurants to minimize seed oil use. We aim for all participants to leave healthier than they arrived.

Multigenerational

Building a Multigenerational Community

Our community will include everyone from toddlers to centenarians, fostering an environment where different life stages interact and learn from each other, breaking away from the typical age-segregated settings.

Multidisciplinary

Multidisciplinary

We believe that there is huge potential for breakthroughs at the intersections of disciplines. Edge Esmeralda is designed to foster collaboration between people with diverse expertise—scientists, artists, engineers, urban planners, philosophers, mechanics, and beyond.

Social Technology

Importance of Social Technology

We value innovation in social technology as much as in hardware and software. This means the norms, values, and practices of living well together as a community. This is critical for us to discover together for a flourishing future.

Principles

Focus on Creation

At Edge Esmeralda, we’re focused on building, moving beyond mere consumption of knowledge. The emphasis is on hands-on applications and experiments, with the goal of fostering new technologies, cultures, ideas, and organizations during our month together.

Our village promotes health and longevity as a default. This includes organized community workouts, nutritious meals made from local organic ingredients, weekly farmers markets, and partnerships with local restaurants to minimize seed oil use. We aim for all participants to leave healthier than they arrived.

Our community will include everyone from toddlers to centenarians, fostering an environment where different life stages interact and learn from each other, breaking away from the typical age-segregated settings.

We believe that there is huge potential for breakthroughs at the intersections of disciplines. Edge Esmeralda is designed to foster collaboration between people with diverse expertise—scientists, artists, engineers, urban planners, philosophers, mechanics, and beyond.

Healthy by Default

Our village promotes health and longevity as a default. This includes organized community workouts, nutritious meals made from local organic ingredients, weekly farmers markets, and partnerships with local restaurants to minimize seed oil use. We aim for all participants to leave healthier than they arrived.

Multigenerational

Our community will include everyone from toddlers to centenarians, fostering an environment where different life stages interact and learn from each other, breaking away from the typical age-segregated settings.

Multidisciplinary

We believe that there is huge potential for breakthroughs at the intersections of disciplines. Edge Esmeralda is designed to foster collaboration between people with diverse expertise—scientists, artists, engineers, urban planners, philosophers, mechanics, and beyond.

Principles

Healthy by Default

Our village promotes health and longevity as a default. This includes organized community workouts, nutritious meals made from local organic ingredients, weekly farmers markets, and partnerships with local restaurants to minimize seed oil use. We aim for all participants to leave healthier than they arrived.

Focus on Creation

At Edge Esmeralda, we’re focused on building, moving beyond mere consumption of knowledge. The emphasis is on hands-on applications and experiments, with the goal of fostering new technologies, cultures, ideas, and organizations during our month together.

Multigenerational

Our community will include everyone from toddlers to centenarians, fostering an environment where different life stages interact and learn from each other, breaking away from the typical age-segregated settings.

Multidisciplinary

We believe that there is huge potential for breakthroughs at the intersections of disciplines. Edge Esmeralda is designed to foster collaboration between people with diverse expertise—scientists, artists, engineers, urban planners, philosophers, mechanics, and beyond.

Focus on Creation

At Edge Esmeralda, we’re focused on building, moving beyond mere consumption of knowledge. The emphasis is on hands-on applications and experiments, with the goal of fostering new technologies, cultures, ideas, and organizations during our month together.

Healthy by Default

Our village promotes health and longevity as a default. This includes organized community workouts, nutritious meals made from local organic ingredients, weekly farmers markets, and partnerships with local restaurants to minimize seed oil use. We aim for all participants to leave healthier than they arrived.

Multigenerational

Our community will include everyone from toddlers to centenarians, fostering an environment where different life stages interact and learn from each other, breaking away from the typical age-segregated settings.

Multidisciplinary

We believe that there is huge potential for breakthroughs at the intersections of disciplines. Edge Esmeralda is designed to foster collaboration between people with diverse expertise—scientists, artists, engineers, urban planners, philosophers, mechanics, and beyond.

Themes

Each theme will have planned talks & self-organized sessions throughout the month

Human organization

Future of Cities • Evolution of education & parenting •  Collective intelligence • Governance • Culture • D/ACC

Artificial intelligence

Compute & geopolitics • Agents • AI & identity • Alignment • Decentralized AI • Practical applications • AI Art

Real-world crypto

Practical, real-life applications • Zero-Knowledge tech • Protocol research • Scalability

Health, longevity, & bio

Neurotech • Nutritional science & tech • Biohacking • Practical & philosophical aspects of well-being

Hard tech

Renewable energy • Space exploration • Nuclear • Geoengineering • Nanotech •  Materials science • Transportation  

FAQ

Where can I access the latest information for attendees? 

The best place is our blog, which we will update regularly!

What is Edge Esmeralda?

Edge Esmeralda is a "popup village" for people who believe the future can be better and are actively working to make it happen. It is taking place in Healdsburg, California, May 24 - June 21. ‍

We aim for this to be the healthiest and most productive time of your year — a place to go deep in your work and learn from fellow experts in other fields while incubating novel technology and ways of living. ‍

This gathering is also a prototype for a permanent new town, Esmeralda. The lessons we learn will be carried forward to build this long-term vision.

Who is Edge Esmeralda for?

The village will be filled with people who are building towards a brighter future: founders, scientists, urban planners, researchers, engineers, philosophers, storytellers, and beyond. We look for thoughtful people who are curious, kind, and high-agency.

Families with kids are welcome. We will have childcare and fun activities for the whole family throughout the month. One of our major goals is to integrate family life with creative life.

Do I need to come for the whole month?

It's not required, though we encourage you to stay as long as you can. ‍

Those who come for at least several weeks will have the most immersive experience, because a large part of what we are testing is different ways of living and working together. However you'll still have a great experience if you come for a shorter period of time!

Can I bring my kids?

Absolutely! We meant it when we said that we intend for this to be multigenerational. One of our major goals is to integrate family life with creative life.‍

We will share more information about bringing children soon!

What will the programming be like? 

We approach programming differently to most events. ‍

  • We are focusing on emergence instead of centrally planning everything. We will create the minimum necessary structure for this to be an excellent event, and then we'll encourage the attendees to participate, engage, and build awesome things on top of the structure we provide.
  • The fact that the event is a month long means that you'll have plenty of opportunity to go deep on various topics of your choice, and to meaningfully connect with other attendees.

If you can't make it for the whole time and you aren't sure when to come, the short answer is: come when you can! You'll be certain to have an engaging time. ‍

We will also publish a live calendar of major programming events by mid-April.

How much will it cost?

We are not making a profit on this event, and we are a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Therefore we do charge ticket prices to cover the costs of organizing the event, since it takes resources to create a memorable experience, and it is important that this gathering is self-sustaining.

We will publish ticket prices shortly.

Who are the organizers?
  • Edge City: We convene people working at the frontier of tech, science, and society in popup villages across the globe. We aspire to be a ‘society incubator’— a lab of experimentation for new ideas, tech, culture, and organizations, all dedicated to accelerating human flourishing.

  • Esmeralda Institute: We are building a new town for multigenerational families who are looking for lifelong learning, a car-light lifestyle, neighborly connections, and a healthy lifestyle in touch with nature. Esmeralda will be a cross between Chautauqua, Las Catalinas, and a college campus.


Why locate this in Healdsburg?

Healdsburg is a beautiful town in Northern California with a rich history and reputation as a center of healthy living. It has a number of great characteristics that make it the perfect place to host Edge Esmeralda: ‍

  • Infectious enthusiasm from local leaders, including the mayor & small businesses
  • Proximity to SF, the tech capital of the world
  • Walkable streets centered around a charming town square
  • Embedded in nature, surrounded by the Russian River & the Mayacama Mountains
  • Sonoma County is a hub for agriculture, healthy living, & sustainability

Thank you to our Patrons

Hiroshi Nakamura
Fatima Al-Hussaini
Rajesh Patel
Xiuying Chen
Hiroshi Nakamura
Fatima Al-Hussaini
Rajesh Patel
Xiuying Chen
Hiroshi Nakamura
Fatima Al-Hussaini
Rajesh Patel
Xiuying Chen