Two weeks ago, Smart Growth America held an event called “Tech in the City” in Washington, D.C. Now, D.C. may seem like an unlikely place for Sarasota to look for inspiration, but cities both big and small have one thing in common: They are all challenging Silicon Valley’s dominance of tech and finance.

The developers in Sarasota have had their say; now it’s our turn. On May 8, the Sarasota County Commission will consider changing the county’s long-range land use plans called Sarasota 2050. At TWIS, we believe that long-range planning is a special kind of public process, and we spent a lazy afternoon pondering the best ways this could possibly go.

Last week, Xavier de Souza Briggs, a professor at MIT’s School of Architecture + Planning, delivered a speech in Chicago called “Inventing the Next American Economy.” No matter where you stand politically, economically or geographically, the material will challenge a lot of assumptions about what’s driving local economies.

Zappos is an on-line shoe store—right? Well, yes, but lately they’ve gotten into a couple of sidelines, including urban planning. So how does one go from shoes to sidewalks? As it turns out, it’s part of the business plan.

Let’s just skip to the punch line: The density discussion in Sarasota is backwards. This article is devoted to rearranging the discussion in the right order.

The sharing economy and collaborative consumption are on the rise. Of course the sharing economy is not a new invention (think libraries), but technology has enabled complete strangers to share cars, bikes, rooms, tools and practically anything else that could be loaned out. So how can Sarasota get in on this trend?