EA - EA architect: Building an EA hub in the Great Lakes region by Tereza Flidrova

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: EA architect: Building an EA hub in the Great Lakes region, published by Tereza Flidrova on September 13, 2022 on The Effective Altruism Forum.
EA is growing, and there is a great need for a variety of spaces for the community to live, work and socialize. Traditionally, EA communities formed around hubs like Boston, the Bay Area or London. But, I feel like recently, there has been a growing demand for diversification of EA hubs around the world. This article aims to introduce the Great Lakes region as a potential place for a new EA hub. I will argue that a new hub could be set up in the green and walkable town of Sandusky, located right on Lake Erie, allowing EAs to benefit from the existing thriving community, facilities and infrastructure.
My involvement in the project started a few weeks ago, when I spent a week in Sandusky, Ohio, visiting Andy Weber (a great 80k episode with Andy here), a former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical & Biological Defense Programs, and his wife Christine Parthemore, Chief Executive Officer of Council on Strategic Risks. I was on a mission: to explore Sandusky and help figure out whether it would be a suitable location for an EA hub. Those of you living a nomadic lifestyle, working remotely or seeking to improve your mental health, productivity and wellness, stay tuned: Sandusky might be a place for you!
So why the Great Lakes region, and why Sandusky in particular?
In Andy's words: 'Sandusky is the remote worker's paradise', and after visiting, I have to say I wouldn't disagree! The following paragraphs describe the main reasons why Sandusky is a great place for remote work or perhaps establishing an EA hub.
In Sandusky, you get more for less.
Sandusky is much cheaper than the usual places where EAs tend to gather. According to Redfin (Redfin n.d.), the median price of Sandusky home prices for July 2022 was $200K, as compared to $825K for NYC and $1,460K for SF. In times of remote working, places like Sandusky might offer EAs a chance to work from one place, offering an alternative to living in the most expensive places in the world. Living costs as well as costs associated with running an EA hub in Sandusky are much more favorable and would buy EAs better housing and healthier work environments for far less money.
Life at the water.
Living near the water, similarly to living surrounded by greenery, seems to be associated with many positive measures of physical and mental wellbeing (Hunt 2019).
Sandusky is located at Lake Erie, a freshwater reservoir offering life right at the waterfront.
It's one of the cities of the Green Cities Initiative, an initiative of cities by the Great Lakes that strive to offer a place to do remote work in times of global warming and covid. The initiative wants to offer life at a freshwater resource (the Great Lakes provide 84% of North America’s surface freshwater (“Green Cities Initiative” n.d.)), with access to nature. I like the idea from an urban design perspective: it brings cities from the region together to work collaboratively on developing the region as a whole. For a smaller town like Sandusky, this means better connectivity to the communities and facilities surrounding it.
Access to nature.
People living near green spaces seem to be less likely to have anxiety and depression and are more likely to be physically active (Jennings, Johnson Gaither, and Gragg 2012). Many of us choose to live in cities despite the distance from nature because of all their benefits, like access to jobs, opportunities, and people. However, living in loud, densely populated and congested urban areas can get overwhelming and stressful and can negatively impact our mental health or sleep quality. Sandusky could offer an escape with more immediate access to nature. It is surrounded by parks, and the Magee...