Real estate. Real conversations. Hosted by a teenager trying to understand the world she’s about to inherit.
I’m Naomi Cohen, and I created Realtopia — a real estate podcast for teenagers, by a teenager.
What began as a podcast about real estate evolved into conversations about something even bigger: how places shape people, and how people shape places.
Because real estate was never just about buildings. It’s about the future of places — cities, housing, belonging, design, community, and the people shaping them.
Each episode, I ask architects, developers, researchers, founders, and urban thinkers the questions teenagers are not supposed to ask.
Welcome to Realtopia.
Episode 23: Kevin Kelley (Author of Irreplaceable) — Can a Place Make Strangers Talk?
Can a place actually make strangers talk — or does design only set the stage?
Naomi sits down with Kevin Kelley, architect, co-founder of Shook Kelley, and author of Irreplaceable: How to Create Extraordinary Places That Bring People Together. For more than 30 years, Kevin has studied how physical environments influence behavior and how places can convene people around shared experiences. His clients have ranged from Whole Foods and Harley-Davidson to orchestras and universities.
Kevin explains why he stopped thinking mainly about architectural style and started focusing on behavior, and why he worries about the "replacement economy" — apps and screens replacing the everyday places where people once ran into each other.
He breaks down what actually makes people stay: feeling safe, the way seats are arranged, movable furniture, lighting, visibility, and the small cues that make strangers feel comfortable enough to connect. He also explains why rooftops, lounges, and coworking spaces often fail despite looking impressive on paper.
His central point is simple: design is the set, not the story. The real work starts with deciding what behavior you want to create, then designing the environment around it.
In this episode:
• Why Kevin designs for behavior, not just aesthetics
• The "replacement economy" and what screens are replacing
• Why feeling safe is the first condition for connection
• How seating and lighting help strangers interact
• Why rooftops and coworking spaces often sit empty
• Why design is the set, not the story
• How body language reveals whether a place is working
• Why people need a reason to gather
• How a teenager can start a gathering place with almost no money
A conversation about the difference between a place that contains people and one that actually brings them together.
Realtopia is hosted by Naomi Cohen.
19 Oct 2026
Episode 22: Rik Adamski (Storefront Renaissance League) — Can You Create a Third Place?
Can you actually create a third place — or can you only create the conditions that allow one to emerge?
Naomi sits down with Rik Adamski, president of Ash+Lime and co-founder of the Storefront Renaissance League, to talk about the everyday places where people gather — cafés, bookstores, bars, shops, and sometimes places you would never expect.
Rik explains why third places have become harder to sustain, from rising costs and changing business models to phones and new social habits. He argues that the best ones depend on much more than design: the owners and staff who know your name, the regulars who connect people, and a business model that allows the place to stay open long enough for routines and relationships to form.
Naomi and Rik also explore why hybrid places like bookstore-café-bars may be part of the answer, why older inexpensive buildings give local businesses room to experiment, why a McDonald's can sometimes function as a real third place, and why improving a neighborhood can begin with something as simple as cleaning up one block.
In this episode:
- Can a third place be created, or only the conditions for one?
- Why third places are becoming harder to sustain
- The people who turn a business into a social place
- Why hybrid third places may have a better chance of surviving
- What a Belonging Index can measure — and what it cannot
- Why unexpected places can become community hubs
- Why older, inexpensive buildings matter for local businesses
- What teenagers need from a third place
- Why small actions can sometimes matter more than big plans
A conversation about third places, local businesses, and the conditions that help community happen.
Realtopia is hosted by Naomi Cohen.
11 Oct 2026
Episode 21: Ryan Gravel (Creator of the Atlanta BeltLine) — Can One Idea Reconnect a City?
Can one piece of infrastructure reconnect a city — and what happens when that idea becomes more successful than anyone expected?
Naomi sits down with Ryan Gravel, the urban designer whose graduate thesis became the Atlanta BeltLine, a 22-mile loop connecting 45 neighborhoods around Atlanta.
Ryan explains how a year in Paris inspired the idea, why he calls the BeltLine “catalyst infrastructure,” and how abandoned rail corridors became a new way for neighborhoods to connect. He also speaks candidly about what the project got wrong: missing transit, affordability challenges, and why he believes stronger commitments should have come before the trail moved ahead.
In this episode:
How Paris inspired the BeltLine
What “catalyst infrastructure” means
Whether the BeltLine caused Atlanta’s growth
Why belonging is difficult to measure
What Ryan learned from the project’s equity challenges
Why transit was always essential
What he would change today
How infrastructure can give teenagers more independence
A conversation about infrastructure, connection, and the responsibility that comes with changing a city.
Realtopia is hosted by Naomi Cohen.
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