What turns a space into a place — and can belonging actually be designed?

Naomi sits down with Ethan Kent, Executive Director and co-founder of PlacemakingX, a global network of more than 1,500 placemakers in over 85 countries. Before that, Ethan spent more than 20 years at Project for Public Spaces and has worked in and studied places across more than 1,000 cities around the world.

From the cheap beach chairs that helped transform Times Square to markets, main streets, and neighborhood gathering places, Ethan explains why great places are built around purpose, meaning, and people — not just architecture.

They discuss why sociability may be the most important measure of a public space, why cities should aim to be lovable rather than simply livable, and why successful placemaking starts with life first, then space, then buildings.

In this episode:

• What turns a space into a place
• How beach chairs helped transform Times Square
• Why sociability matters more than beautiful design
• The Power of 10 and why people need reasons to stay
• Why “lovable” may matter more than “livable”
• Place-led development vs. “place taking”
• Why physical design can create the potential for belonging, but not belonging itself
• Why teenagers have been designed out of many cities

A conversation about how people shape places — and how places, in turn, shape community. Realtopia is hosted by Naomi Cohen.

Can the places we live actually make us trust each other more?

Naomi sits down with Charles Montgomery — journalist, author of Happy City, founder of Happy Cities, and author of the new book The Trust Experiments: Rebuilding Connection in a World Designed to Divide Us.

More than a decade after Happy City, Charles explores how cities shape not just our happiness, but our relationships with one another — and why housing, public spaces, screens, transportation, and even the people we encounter every day can influence whether we feel connected or alone.

In this episode:
• How cities shape happiness and belonging
• Why affordability affects connection
• Density, housing and the right social scale
• How screens and cities can deepen isolation
• Why public spaces can build social trust
• How young people can help reshape their cities

A conversation about a simple but powerful idea: the places we build shape the relationships we build.

What if the reason your neighborhood looks the way it does — who lives there, what gets built, and how expensive it feels — isn't random?

In this episode of Realtopia, Naomi sits down with Nolan Gray — city planner, Research Director at California YIMBY, and author of Arbitrary Lines — to unpack the invisible rules shaping our cities.

Together, they explore one of the biggest questions facing this generation: if we build more housing, do people actually feel more connected to where they live?

In this episode:

• What zoning really controls
• The ideas behind the YIMBY movement
• Housing, affordability, and displacement
• Whether abundance creates belonging
• Rethinking suburbs and neighborhood identity
• What makes a place feel like home

Why does one city feel instantly recognizable while another could be almost anywhere?

In this episode of Realtopia, Naomi sits down with Professor Greg Clark — advisor to more than 400 cities across six continents, author, and co-host of The DNA of Cities — to explore what gives places their identity and why the most successful cities of the future may not be the ones that grow fastest, but the ones that become more fully themselves.

Together, they unpack the idea of a city’s DNA — the combination of inherited geography, historical choices, culture, institutions, and new adaptations that shape how places evolve. The conversation moves from global competition to local belonging, asking a bigger question: How do we build cities people can actually imagine staying in?

In this episode:

• The DNA of a city: endowed, inherited, and acquired traits
• Why global sameness is the great risk to cities
• Turin and the cities that defy their reputation
• Building a belonging index: social capital and the social contract
• Affordability vs. global competitiveness and the case for 50% affordable housing
• Climate, AI, and the just transition

Why do some spaces instantly feel right — while others never quite do?

In this episode of Realtopia, Naomi sits down with Dr. Toby Israel — environmental psychologist, founder of Design Psychology, and author of Some Place Like Home and Designing Women's Lives — to explore how our earliest experiences of place quietly shape the homes we choose, the spaces we create, and even what makes us feel like we belong.

Together, they unpack the idea of an environmental autobiography: the hidden story of childhood places, family environments, and memories that can still influence our design choices decades later. Instead of asking what makes a place beautiful, this conversation asks a different question: what makes a place feel like yours?

In this episode:

• What Design Psychology is — and why psychology can become the primary design tool
• Environmental autobiography and the idea of an environmental family tree
• Why people often recreate — or reject — the homes they grew up in
• How unconscious place memories shape layouts, colors, and objects
• Whether Pinterest, algorithms, and AI are disconnecting us from real preferences
• How renters can still personalize temporary spaces
• What traditional “belonging” metrics may miss about emotional experience of place
• Why two people can experience the exact same place completely differently

What if the housing crisis isn’t just about prices — but about a century of rules that quietly erased some of the most affordable ways people used to live?

In this episode of Realtopia, Naomi speaks with Professor Marc Norman, Associate Dean of NYU Schack, about what’s broken in the housing system — and what it would take to fix it.

Marc explains why affordable housing is often misunderstood, how postwar zoning rules made duplexes, fourplexes, and other “missing middle” housing nearly illegal, and why those choices helped shape today’s homeownership crisis. They explore new ideas like neighborhood REITs, community wealth building, and shared ownership models that could broaden access to real estate wealth.

The conversation also examines gentrification and displacement, the role of community development finance, why affordability and beauty are not a trade-off, and how reforms like California upzoning and New York’s City of Yes may be reopening possibilities.

One of the episode’s most original moments comes when Naomi asks Marc what a Belonging Index might include — leading to a discussion about walkability, freedom from car dependence, and whether a neighborhood gives people real choices as life changes.

They close with a message for younger generations who feel locked out of ownership: housing is not only shaped by markets, but by people who show up.

They discuss:
• The hidden history behind the homeownership crisis
• Missing-middle housing and zoning reform
• Neighborhood REITs, co-ops, and community wealth building
• Gentrification, displacement, and protecting vulnerable residents
• Walkability, belonging, and the idea of a Belonging Index
• Why civic engagement can shape what gets built

In this episode of Realtopia, Naomi sits down with Dr. Colin Ellard, professor at the University of Waterloo and author of Places of the Heart, to explore how the spaces around us shape our emotions, behavior, and sense of belonging. 

From city streets to living rooms, Dr. Ellard explains how our environment directly impacts our brains—sometimes in ways we don’t even notice. The conversation dives into the science of psychogeography, revealing how design choices like building facades, density, and access to nature can influence mood, stress, and even long-term health.

They discuss:

• What psychogeography is and how scientists measure our reactions to space
• Why “blank” buildings can create boredom and affect mental health
• What truly makes a place feel like home beyond just physical design
• How housing types—from high-rises to neighborhoods—shape connection and loneliness
• The role of autonomy and personal space, especially for teenagers
• How to measure belonging through real-world indicators of community

In this episode of Realtopia, Naomi speaks with Majora Carter about urban revitalization, environmental justice, and what it takes to build communities where residents can stay and thrive.

Drawing from her experience in the South Bronx, Majora shares a powerful perspective on rebuilding neighborhoods from within. The conversation explores how perception shapes opportunity, the difference between regenerative and extractive development, and why creating real economic pathways within communities is essential.


They discuss:

• What urban revitalization looks like when it truly improves people’s lives
• The difference between regenerative and extractive development
• How perception influences investment and opportunity in neighborhoods
• Why “third spaces” are critical for building community and belonging
• Strategies to support underserved communities without driving displacement
• The importance of mixed-income neighborhoods and deconcentrating poverty

This episode offers a thoughtful look at the future of cities—not just how they are built, but how they function, who they serve, and what it means to create places where people truly belong.

This episode offers a thoughtful look at the future of cities—not just how they are built, but how they function, who they serve, and what it means to create places where people truly belong.

In this episode of Realtopia, Naomi speaks with Carlos Moreno, creator of the 15-minute city, about how cities can be redesigned around people, proximity, and everyday life.

From his early work in technology to his shift toward a more human-centered vision of cities, Carlos explains why the future of urban living depends less on infrastructure and more on accessibility, local services, and quality of life. The conversation explores how cities can address climate change, social inequality, and disconnection by rethinking how neighborhoods are organized.

They discuss:

• What the 15-minute city is and the problems it aims to solve
• Why proximity matters more than ownership in how people experience cities
• How cities can reduce car dependency and shift toward “happy proximity”
• The role of public spaces, local services, and walkability in building belonging
• Why zoning, habits, and political will are key barriers to change
• How different populations (kids, families, elderly) have different needs in urban planning
• The growing role of younger generations in reshaping cities and lifestyles

This episode offers a forward-looking perspective on the future of cities—one where time, access, and human connection are at the center of how we design and live in our neighborhoods.

What if you could invest in real estate the same way you buy shares in a company?

In this episode, I talk with Jerry Chu, founder of Lofty, about real estate tokenization — a new way of buying and owning property through digital shares.
We break down how it works, how it’s different from traditional real estate investing, and why some people believe it could make real estate more accessible to a wider group of investors. 
We also talk about the risks, the role of blockchain, and what still needs to happen for this to become more mainstream.

If you’ve ever wondered how technology might change the way people invest in property, this episode is a great place to start.