A brief welcome
When you tell people, “I’m helping start a city!” they’ll give you the ‘don’t-touch-me’ look for about 10 seconds until they realize you’re not kidding—and they remember how worried they are about America, too. You end up in the kind of real conversation we’re told people don’t have any more.
It gets extra real when you talk about going backwards in order to go forwards, like banning smartphones in order to improve mental health. Schools nationally are moving to do it, but ban smartphones for everyone? All at once these are fighting words, a reminder of what we’ve lost, and the source of unexpected, often unnerving feelings of hope.
And this is in stark contrast to the conversations we have online. We, the American people, are good at noticing things we don’t like about society. It just turns out that social media, and the entire digital world, is a bad place to actually do or build anything.
New Athens is an outlet for our best instincts. We’re developing serious solutions to urgent problems faced by most Americans; we’re a way for people to put down their phones and tangibly do something—build a city together; and as a middle step, this website, and our growing waitlist of people who want to move to the city, fuel the startup process. Whether you move to New Athens or not, you won’t regret grappling with the problems we’re seeking to solve.
We welcome you to the conversation and, hopefully soon, a neighborhood you love in New Athens.
—Jackson Solway, on behalf of the founding team
February 9, 2026
Quick links
- The game plan – Learn about the teams we’re assembling to build the city.
- Who New Athens is for – Who we’re recruiting to move to the city, and why they say yes.
- Newsletter – Progress reports, news, and essays from our team members.
- Partner with us – Do you represent a company or organization? Partner with us.
- Join the waitlist - Indicate your interest in moving to the city.
- Get involved - Help bring New Athens to life.
- FAQ - Questions we’ve been asked, including the wild ones, and our answers.