The Startup Cities Map

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We, the Adrianople Group, have created a new and exciting map: The startup cities map.

After the success of the Open Zone Map, we are launching a new map dedicated to startup cities. 

The Startup Cities Map is the first interactive and open-source map where you can find each existing startup city, under development or active, around the world. We gathered information from different sources and brought it to the public in a very comprehensive and brief way. 

As always, we are driven by improving public knowledge and inspiring other researchers and enthusiasts.

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What are Startup Cities?

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If you search for “what is a startup city”, you will have a lot of examples of completely different kinds of startup cities around the world and different definitions. You can see as examples of startup cities “normal cities” such as San Francisco and Miami, and private cities such as Prospera.

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What do these cities have in common?

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At first, this might confuse you, but it is simple: 

Startup cities are cities driven by innovation.

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San Francisco is home to some of the most important and innovative companies in the world, Miami is a tech hub and its government has a lot of innovative initiatives such as their own cryptocoin, Prospera is a startup itself.

Actually, there isn’t a worldwide or industry consensus on how to define a startup city, especially as it can mean many different focuses. In a short period of time, its meaning has evolved - initially, a startup city was defined as "cities that have a lot of innovation or startups".

However, with the recent rise of the charter city movement, we also have new city projects that act like a startup.

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The best way to define what is a startup city is by using these three categories created by Balaji Srinivasan, author of The Network State:

1- A city where startups happen, like San Francisco used to be.

Established cities that have an ecosystem that fosters and promotes innovation and the creation of startups.

2- A city that acts like a startup, like Miami, Singapore, Dubai.

Established cities that implement startup and entrepreneurial elements within their administration.

3- A city that is a startup itself, like Culdesac Tempe and Prospera.

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New cities that are master-planned, have a high degree of innovation, and are a startup in themselves.

Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs are looking at cities as their next product. VCs like Pronomos Capital are focusing on this new industry, partnering with citizens, states, and developers to build new cities and improve governance with better laws.

As the movement grows and new projects begin to emerge, both Balaji and the Adrianople Group decided to create a tool that will help visually map out this progress. This is how the Startup Cities Map was born.

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How the Startup Cities Map works

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On the startup cities map, you will find all the startup cities that exist around the world, divided in three categories, as defined by Balaji Srinivasan: 

1) A city where startups happen.

2) A city that acts like a startup.

3) A city that is a startup itself.

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They will be identified by colors: Green is for a city that is a startup, blue for a city where startups happen and purple for a city that acts like a startup.

By clicking on the city, you can find information about where it is located, number of residents, their objectives and general information. You will find their type and a useful website to know more about the city.

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