California Forever

Building the next great American city – in Solano County, California.

[Laura Fingal-Surma 🚡 frontier urbanist @urbanistvc]

About 18 months ago, I shared my excitement about California Forever and Esmeralda with an elder member of the Stanford Alumni Real Estate Council (SREC).

I was told these projects would NEVER happen.

Fast forward to this week: my friends @jansramek and @devonzuegel headlined the 2026 SREC Spring Retreat in Healdsburg, organized around the theme of placemaking. 😁

Ambitious urbanist founders are shifting the Overton window.

Urbanist Ventures is here to find and support them before they are popular.

[Ronald Reagan Institute (RRI) @ReaganInstitute]

We're excited to announce that Jan Sramek, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of California Forever, will speak at the 2026 Reagan National Economic Forum.

Housing, permitting, urban development, and the question of whether America can still build the things we need — these are among the most important conversations on American economic life, and they're central to RNEF's agenda this year. Mark your calendar for Friday, May 29 to hear this conversation live from #RNEF2026.

📅Register for the livestream: https://t.co/iHFbfrGlNT

@jansramek @CAForever

[Jan Sramek 🇺🇲 🌁 ⛰️ @jansramek]

America's fastest-growing cities are all in exurbs, and that's not going to change.

Urbanists have two choices:

1) pretend this is not the case

(2) recognize that the only way to make these projects better is to invent and prove a new, different model, like @CAForever.

[Laura Fingal-Surma 🚡 frontier urbanist @urbanistvc]

I revisited California Forever this week with the Abundance Network, and I've never been more excited to build the next great American city. 🇺🇸

It's time to reopen the urban frontier.

A place where everyone who has been priced out of walkable urbanism will have a chance.

A place where the people who build the homes can buy the homes.

A place where hard-earned dollars go further than they have in California in a long time.

A place where the default is growth, not stagnation.

Let's build.

[Andrew Miller @AndrewMillerYYZ]

8/
Full analysis in this week's CHANGING LANES, including the cold-start problem, the transfer-penalty fix, and the two gaps I think are still unfilled:

https://t.co/MqTsyyaMPE

[Andrew Miller @AndrewMillerYYZ]

7/
@CAForever is an audacious attempt to build a city with all the virtues, and few of the vices, of a century of American auto-centric design

It deserves attention and success

[Andrew Miller @AndrewMillerYYZ]

6/
3️⃣ Minimum density of 30 dwelling units per net acre, i.e., the floor that supports retail and transit

4️⃣ Parking pushed to garages at the city's edge, dynamically priced, with revenue cross-subsidizing transit and cycling

[Andrew Miller @AndrewMillerYYZ]

5/
Four irreversible decisions, made before construction, lock in their vision:

1️⃣ Streets as public realm first. Rights-of-way as narrow as 20 feet

2️⃣ Physically-separated rapid-transit lanes. Stops every quarter-mile. Lines half-a-mile apart

[Andrew Miller @AndrewMillerYYZ]

1/ In this week's CHANGING LANES, I speak to @jansramek about @CAForever's Suisun Expansion, a new American city built to be car-optional

Cars welcome but inconvenient

Transit and active transport will be so good that most residents, most of the time, will choose them
🧵

[Jan Sramek 🇺🇲 🌁 ⛰️ @jansramek]

"San Francisco is not an island." My piece for @ycombinator's new magazine, State of the Art:

[Jan Sramek 🇺🇲 🌁 ⛰️ @jansramek]

.@cnupublicsquare summary: https://t.co/2zLlCIrTml

.@stevemouzon long-form: https://t.co/IbF8eOy2P9

[Jan Sramek 🇺🇲 🌁 ⛰️ @jansramek]

.@cnupublicsquare on @stevemouzon's review of the Suisun Expansion Plan: "California Forever stands tall above the rest."

[Joshua Seawell @seawell_IAI]

new arg for @latimes from me and @orangutanagram: make new housing beautiful

[Micah Springut @mspringut]

News flash: we’re going to build entire buildings of stone that are cheaper than steel and concrete. That’s how beauty returns (and venture gets their returns).

[Laura Fingal-Surma 🚡 frontier urbanist @urbanistvc]

Major U.S. cities by density
— if @jansramek gets his way:
1. New York
2. San Francisco
3. CALIFORNIA FOREVER
4. Boston

[Jan Sramek 🇺🇲 🌁 ⛰️ @jansramek]

If AI creates jobs, California will need @CAForever's 174,000 new homes for affordability.

If AI destroys jobs, California will need @CAForever's 530,000 new jobs to replace the losses.

The best time to break ground on the new city was 2 years ago.

The second best time is now.

[Sean Gilfillan 🇺🇸 @SeanCGilfillan]

Last two pics from the American Dynamism Summit. @SkydioHQ looks like a badass Robocop and its the slickest drone launcher I've ever seen. Plus @CAForever HAS to happen. Given the threat we face directly to our West, we have to build America's largest shipyard and advanced manufacturing park right here in California. We CAN build things here. Right? @pmarca @bhorowitz @a16z

[Laura Fingal-Surma 🚡 frontier urbanist @urbanistvc]

"[W]ith newfound support from organized labor, California Forever is finally looking more likely than not" @bhargreaves

[Jan Sramek 🇺🇲 🌁 ⛰️ @jansramek]

California should and can be the climax of human flourishing: the Florentine Renaissance meeting the American Space Age.

Public plazas and blazing rockets, framed by mountains and sea—a sun-drenched frontier of optimism and opportunity for all. ☀️🚀

@ashleevance gets it.

[Chris Power @2112Power]

Great conversation at the @NYSE this morning on Reindustrializing America & American Dynamism. Appreciate @NYSE and @davidu for the discussion and @AshleyMastronardi for the opportunity to take it live.