Do our neighborhoods reflect our natural community patterns? Have we designed them to create economic success? We gravitate towards highly interconnected walkable ecosystems, but somewhere along the way we've turned away from that natural inclination, compartmentalizing our cities so that offices and commercial uses are separate, making the retail businesses surrounding them dependent on the 9-5 workers that frequent the area and leaving the neighborhood emptied outside of traditional office hours. Perhaps it's time to evaluate the ecosystems we create for ourselves to insure they match out natural order: to create neighborhoods that are fully livable and fully functional, with high levels of diversity that create natural economic success.

This week's episode features Jared Rodriguez, Principal, Emergent Urban Concepts, a thought leader in the realm of community development. With a degree in civil engineering, architectural Studies, and has worked in Real Estate Development with a focus on green energy components and sustainability, Jared helps communities determine who they want they be.