We Company, formerly known as WeWork, has announced plans to launch a smart cities program. Since its founding in 2010, the real-estate empire has collected an enormous amount of data on how people work and live, using that information to shape its more than 600 spaces. As the global coworking company expands its brand to tackle residential real estate (WeLive) and education (WeGrow), it is hoping to use its aggregated information to reenvision the future of our cities.

To do so, We Company has hired Di-Ann Eisnor, the former Waze executive, and Dror Benshetrit, the designer and futurist whose eponymous studio is known for their pioneering object and installation designs. Together, the two (alongside engineers, architects, data scientists, biologists, and economists) will use their innovation of the tech sector to address problems of urbanization and climate change.

In recent years, the company has acquired a laundry list of companies, helping to build up its software portfolio. Examples include their purchases of Case, makers of architectural modeling software, and Fieldens, a communication platform for construction projects, as well as Meetup, a platform for organizing social groups; Teem, which collects data on how employees move about the office; and Euclid, a company that tracks the identity and behavior of people in the physical world.

The spatial data and tools drawn from these recent acquisitions will bring the company's projects to life as it partners with organizations to help bring about some semblance of a smart city, plans for which are still lacking in detail. As a technology-driven real estate company, We is perhaps uniquely positioned to bring together their knowledge of design, construction, data systems, security, and customer experience to keep cities and people connected. However, as similar attempts such as Sidewalk Labs' Toronto project receive an onslaught of criticism, the goal of a tech-empowered urban renaissance has been put on notice.