This Tech Company Wants to Build a Better City

There's no shortage of ambition from Silicon Valley startup accelerator and investment firm Y Combinator—which recently announced its intentions to build a prototype city.

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June 29, 2016, 7:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


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"Y Combinator, the startup accelerator and investment firm that helped produce Airbnb, Dropbox, and Instacart, is embarking on a creation project arguably more ambitious than any company," according to an article by Max Chafkin.

That is, Y Combinator announced earlier this week its intention to build a new city. "YC Research, Y Combinator’s nonprofit arm, plans to solicit proposals for research into new construction methods, power sources, driverless cars, even notions of zoning and property rights," according to Chafkin. The project also sets incredibly lofty goals, such as reducing housing expenses by 90 percent and "[developing] a city code of laws simple enough to fit on 100 pages of text."

The article includes more details of Y Combinator's history and business practices, for those who aren't in the Silicon Valley buzz loop.

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