Apartment City

Buy Photo St. George City officials discuss zoning changes in anticipation for a proposed office park at the current Ridgetop Complex Wednesday , Dec. 16, 2015. (Photo: Chris Caldwell / The Spectrum & Daily News) Buy Photo Suspended high above St. George’s urban center,  hiding in plain sight atop a mesa, is some of highest-value real estate in one of the county’s fastest-growing cities. For the better part of seven years, it mostly lay empty. The “ Ridgetop Complex ,” as it has formally been known since 2011 when the city relocated its airport, stretches for more than a mile north-to-south, carrying 155 acres of developable flat land with unencumbered viewscapes along the land that once carried the runway. Once pegged for pricey cliffside homes , schools, shops and all the trappings of a premium mixed-use neighborhood, it has instead been limited in recent years to the occasional hobby race , concert or other event that requires a large open space . It’s sometimes used by law...

We all make choices — building companies or products or communities — around how much control and authority each of the participants has. Do we tightly control our users in order to streamline our product, or do we open up multiple interfaces and allow our users to drive? Do we share our data with others in the belief that a rising tide lifts all boats, or do we hide it to improve our competitive advantage? Do we allow users to deconstruct and reassemble our products, or does that void their warranty? Do we respect current norms of our industry, or do we see the need for disruption? In many instances, these are questions of centralized versus decentralized authority  — who has the right and ability to make choices. Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. —  William Butler Yeats   In this post, we argue that we now have the ability to build more decentralized systems , and that these can often create a competitive advantage over existing solut...