America’s cities are under pressure—and with them, the nation’s global competitiveness. Detroit, once the engine of U.S. innovation, has seen its population drop by 65% since 1950. San Francisco, today’s tech hub, struggles with affordability, governance, and quality of life. Chicago continues to lose corporations while grappling with crime and declining confidence. These aren’t isolated failures. They’re symptoms of a deeper reality: cities are no longer designed to evolve with people.
If the U.S. is to lead in the 21st century, our cities must move beyond being collections of buildings, roads, and infrastructure. They must function as platforms that unlock human potential—much like cloud computing platforms unleashed the last wave of digital innovation.
The City as a Platform
At its core, a platform creates the conditions for others to thrive. Amazon Web Services allowed startups to scale globally. Apple’s App Store opened the door to millions of applications that redefined daily life. In the same way, cities must become “people platforms”—environments designed to support innovation, creativity, and prosperity at scale.
That requires moving away from seeing buildings, utilities, and transportation as static assets. Instead, they must be understood as nodes in a dynamic network that either accelerates or hinders progress. Cities that operate as adaptive platforms multiply opportunity. Those that don’t stagnate or decline.
Our Most Precious Resource: People
In the industrial era, natural resources powered growth. In the digital era, the fuel is human ingenuity: ideas, creativity, and connections. Cities concentrate people and therefore concentrate potential.
But potential is not automatic. It depends on whether cities provide the right conditions. Safety and security must be assured, so public spaces and workplaces are trusted. Connectivity—both physical (transportation and mobility) and digital (broadband, 5G, IoT)—must be universal.
Flexibility of the built environment is critical, enabling everything from hybrid workplaces to advanced manufacturing. Sustainability must be prioritized to adapt to climate challenges and conserve resources. And perhaps most importantly, cities must cultivate community, fostering culture, belonging, and shared purpose.
When these fundamentals erode, talent departs—and with it innovation, tax base, and vibrancy. Detroit provides a warning. Other cities risk similar decline if they fail to meet the conditions for people to thrive.
The Role of Buildings
For commercial real estate and facilities professionals, these dynamics carry direct implications. Buildings are more than physical structures; they are the operating system of a city. They are where people live, work, connect, and create.
That makes CRE leaders city builders in practice, even if not in name. Their choices determine whether cities attract or repel the very people they rely on. Consider what’s at stake:
Modernization means retrofitting older stock for energy efficiency, digital readiness, and enhanced tenant experience. Flexibility of space allows buildings to evolve with new demands, whether hybrid offices, life sciences labs, or logistics hubs. Experience now defines the competitive edge, as occupants increasingly act like customers, choosing spaces that support productivity, wellbeing, and collaboration. And data infrastructure turns buildings into smart, connected assets—part of larger networks that enable cities to operate as platforms rather than patchworks.
Each of these responsibilities extends far beyond a single property’s net operating income. They shape the trajectory of entire urban ecosystems.
Why This Moment Matters
The timing is critical. Emerging technologies—AI, biotech, clean energy, advanced manufacturing—are redefining industries. The U.S. has a chance to lead these transformations, but only if its cities provide the foundation for talent to thrive.
If cities falter, innovation will migrate elsewhere. Talent will move. Capital will follow. America’s competitive edge will dull. But if cities evolve into platforms for human potential, they can create what might be called “Quantum Cities”—urban centers capable of sustaining annual GDP growth of 10% or more over the next decade. That level of prosperity would not just reshape metros but strengthen the nation’s position globally.
A Call to Action for CRE Leaders
Owners, developers, and facility managers are on the front lines of this transition. Decisions to modernize, digitize, and enhance experience are no longer just operational; they are civic. The real estate community holds the keys to whether cities become platforms that unlock human potential, or relics of past economic eras.
So where should leaders begin? A practical roadmap includes:
1. Build a Digital Infrastructure First
Upgrade beyond disconnected point solutions. Start with a centralized data warehouse that unifies property, system, tenant, and financial data. Organize this with an ontology that standardizes how information flows across assets, creating a single source of truth. Without this foundation, meaningful reporting and intelligence are impossible.
2. Integrate Building Systems for Data Collection
Ensure that HVAC, access control, visitor management, energy meters, and other systems connect into the warehouse. This turns buildings into “live” digital assets—capable of producing insights on utilization, performance, and experience in real time.
3. Position for AI Readiness
Once data is structured and flowing, organizations can layer on analytics, predictive models, and AI-driven workflows. This step isn’t about hype—it’s about unlocking operational efficiency, better tenant service, and futureproofing portfolios against the next wave of technological disruption.
4. Vertically Integrate Applications
Finally, ensure that applications for marketing, leasing, property management, and tenant engagement are built on top of the digital core—not bolted on as silos. This vertical integration ensures that every touchpoint, from leasing to day-to-day operations, feeds the same intelligence loop.
The Future Is a Choice
The question is not whether cities will evolve, but whether that evolution will be intentional. CRE leaders who modernize infrastructure and unify data will shape cities into adaptive, human-centered platforms. Those who don’t risk watching talent and innovation slip away.
The future of America’s cities—and the nation’s global leadership in the 21st century—depends on these choices. The work starts in the buildings we steward today.
