Episode 58: Building Back Better: Revitalization and Regenerating Main Street

Today we’ll be exploring an ongoing topic of ours around cities, change, and how we build back better. Peter will provide a report from the front lines of change going on in San Diego and Atlanta with an organization called CoPlace who you may remember from our urban prototyping episode #25 in June of 2020. 

Peter will share what he saw on the streets and what he heard from community members as they work to rebuild at the dawn of 2021, in the midst of Covid19, and how they’re working to develop entrepreneurship, and community in ways that benefit and lift up citizens, the neighborhood, and the city.

Eve Picker will join us to talk about something called @OurSmallChange. She has been a hero for positive and equitable change in the built world for decades. She’s an architect, city planner, urban designer, real estate developer and all around instigator for regeneration and revitalization. Eve will share an amazing real estate equity crowdfunding platform she founded called https://www.smallchange.co They raise funds for meaningful real estate projects building better cities everywhere. Like Kickstarter for real estate—but with a return. They match developers to investors, providing investment opportunities for everyone who cares about cities and wants to make change. Eve knows what she’s talking about, before small change, she developed a dozen buildings in blighted neighborhoods, founded a non-profit, cityLAB, built Pittsburgh’s first tiny house, organized a speaker series, launched a Pittsburgh e-zine called PopCity, and established downtown Pittsburgh’s first co-working space. She also co-founded Pittsburgh’s wildly successful Open Streets program and now hosts a weekly podcast series about real estate impact investing.

Eve will help us dig deeper into what it means to crowd-fund revitalization, what she sees as critical challenges ahead, and her own journey of discovery and hope along the way.