On a recent trip to Barcelona, I had the privilege of touring the construction site of the new Camp Nou, FC Barcelona’s iconic home. While we may look at the image and see cranes and concrete, it represents something much deeper in how innovation, sustainability, and identity can come together to reshape a city. A philosophy of progress.

"Barça, més que un club" (Barça, more than a club), I’ve heard thousands of times from time living in the Catalan capital. This motto underscores that FC Barcelona goes far beyond being just a sports club.

What struck me, something I could feel, wasn’t just the scale or design of the project; I’m sure the stadium was nice and would have lots of bells and whistles, but it was the mindset behind the redevelopment.

On the right side of this photo: the rising skeleton of the new Camp Nou, a future-forward stadium packed with technology and purpose. On the left side: broken cement from the old stadium, being repurposed into the new build.

Yes. Cement.

Not discarded. Not wasted. Reused. Embedded. Honored.

This is more than just about the environment; it’s a way of thinking and working. Barcelona isn’t clinging to nostalgia, nor discarding its past. It’s doing something harder and more meaningful:

It’s building forward by carrying its past, wisely and creatively.

Now contrast that with the ongoing saga in St. Petersburg, where the Tropicana Field site has become a symbol of stalled ambition, politicized plans, and short-sighted redevelopment schemes.

What Barcelona shows us is that redevelopment is not about patching up old problems with new branding. It’s about fundamentally transforming how we grow, socially, economically, environmentally, and culturally.

This is what happens when innovation is woven into the culture. Not outsourced. Not buzzworded. Not appropriation. Not delayed until the next election cycle.

It’s a living, breathing value system.

And we need that in our cities.

To the business leaders, city planners, and government officials eyeing major redevelopment:

Stop treating legacy as something to bury. Start treating it as something to build with.

We need to look beyond our borders, beyond our local current toolkits, and into global cities that are getting it right: Barcelona, Medellín, Copenhagen, Tokyo.

Each of these cities reminds us what’s possible when progress is designed with intention.

The question is: What does your city believe?

Your co-pilot,

Steve