This article is based on the Allwork.Space Future of Work Podcast episode “Quantum Cities And The Real Estate Experience: Workplace Strategy As An Economic Engine With Chase Garbarino.” Click here to watch or listen to the full episode.
The competition between cities is no longer abstract; people are moving more freely, companies are rethinking where work happens, and entire regions are gaining or losing momentum based on what they offer workers and businesses in return.
That puts pressure on something often overlooked: whether cities — and the buildings inside them — are actually delivering results.
In a recent conversation on The Future of Work® Podcast, Chase Garbarino, co-founder of HqO and a longtime operator at the intersection of technology and commercial real estate, examines what happens when cities are treated less like static places and more like systems that need to perform.
Start With What Actually Matters
One of the clearest takeaways is that many “smart” initiatives miss the point.
Technology is often introduced first, with the assumption that better tools will lead to better outcomes. But without a defined goal, those efforts can drift. The discussion instead points to a simpler anchor: measurable economic performance.
That idea sits behind what Garbarino describes as the “Quantum City” framework, developed alongside researchers at MIT. The concept focuses on aligning technology with tangible results, while still maintaining principles like privacy, individual liberty, and economic opportunity.
Why Some Cities Keep Winning
Cities have always been engines of economic activity, but the gap between winners and laggards is becoming more visible.
Places that sustain long-term growth tend to share a common trait: economic diversity. When multiple industries coexist, they can absorb disruption and continue generating opportunity. Cities built around a single sector are more exposed when conditions change.
Another factor is how well cities understand the people inside them. In most industries, organizations rely on constant feedback — customer surveys, usage data, behavior tracking. Cities, by comparison, often rely on slower signals.
The conversation points to a need for tighter feedback loops, using aggregated data to better understand what residents and workers value, not just what policymakers assume.
The Role of Buildings in That System
If cities are systems, then buildings are the infrastructure that holds them together.
Offices, in particular, play a central role because they bring people into proximity. That proximity has historically driven collaboration, learning, and innovation — key inputs to economic activity.
But the way office space is delivered has not kept pace with how it is used.
Garbarino draws a line between two approaches. One treats real estate as a fixed product defined by leases. The other treats it as an ongoing service, where the goal is to support the people inside the space every day.
That distinction matters because workplace experience does not stay contained. When employees struggle to do their jobs effectively, the impact carries through to team performance, company outcomes, and ultimately how space is valued.
Why Experience Is Becoming Measurable
This is where the conversation becomes more practical.
Rather than relying on static assumptions — such as standard renewal rates — there is a growing need to understand whether tenants are actually succeeding in a space. That includes how their employees use the workplace, how often they return, and whether the environment supports productivity and collaboration.
Concepts like tenant “health” emerge from this thinking. Instead of focusing only on a company’s ability to pay rent, the focus expands to whether they are likely to stay, grow, or leave.
As Garbarino emphasizes, that kind of visibility has historically been missing in commercial real estate, where owners often know little about day-to-day tenant experience until renewal conversations begin.
The Constraint Behind the Model
A major challenge is structural.
Commercial real estate has long been built around long-term leases and predictable income. That model made sense when workplace demand was stable, but it is less suited to a world where companies are constantly adjusting how and where work happens.
By contrast, technology companies track engagement continuously. They measure how customers interact with products and adjust quickly when behavior changes.
Garbarino points out that real estate has lagged here, often treating each lease as a separate transaction rather than part of a longer relationship, which limits how quickly operators can respond when tenant needs change.
Work Is Changing the Equation
Hybrid work has made these gaps harder to ignore.
Companies are committing to less space upfront and relying more on flexible options. In some cases, employees are directly influencing where work happens, whether through flexible offices or distributed teams.
That creates a different kind of demand — one that depends less on long-term commitments and more on day-to-day value.
Employers are also under pressure to justify office costs, which are often second only to payroll. That raises a new question: what is the return on being in the office?
Garbarino notes that answering that question requires better data on usage and outcomes, not just assumptions about collaboration or culture.
From Space to Ongoing Value
Taken together, these changes point to a different way of thinking about real estate.
Instead of a one-time transaction, the relationship between operator and tenant becomes continuous. Value has to be delivered throughout the life of the lease, not just at the moment it is signed.
That includes services, shared spaces, and environments that support different types of work and different types of workers.
As Garbarino reinforces, this closer alignment between operators and tenants is becoming essential as expectations around workplace experience continue to rise.
Where It All Connects
The through line is consistent from cities down to individual desks: performance depends on whether systems are aligned with real human needs.
Technology can support that, but only when it is tied to clear outcomes.
For cities, that means focusing on economic opportunity and resilience. For real estate, it means understanding tenants beyond the lease. And for workplaces, it means creating environments where people can actually do their best work.
As Garbarino suggests, the organizations that can connect those layers — data, space, and human behavior — will be better positioned to compete as both cities and workplaces become more directly linked.
