Trends
Trend 5: Local Urban Culture Goes Global
What do Park(ing) Day, Jane's Walk, PechaKucha, Restaurant Day and Nuit Blanche have in common? They all started as local urban bottom-up initiatives, but turned into global phenomena over the last years.
Trend 6: Online Stores Revitalize Shopping Streets
The rise of e-commerce and the web store in particular threaten the good ol' shop in the street. More and more people find their way to online shopping centers like Amazon and ASOS. Meanwhile, cities are left behind with empty malls and shopping streets. It's hard to stop this development, but there seems to be help from an unexpected angle. New hybrid online-offline shopping concepts fill up the empty spots in the shopping street of the future.
Trend 7: DIY Currencies For DIY Communities
The economic downturn of recent years has led to a decline in confidence in the financial markets. The renewed focus on local communities, 'DIY' and alternative ways of city-making go hand-in-hand with the rise of the peer-to-peer economy. Increasing numbers of people start to take matters into their own hands. If money fails, why not introduce your own currency?
Trend 8: Urban Farming Becomes Serious Business
Of course, urban agriculture is a trend that we should have mentioned in some trend list years ago, but definitely not here. Although we see urban farms popping up on every corner of the street, we have always doubted the genuinity of all those small farming initiatives that are left behind after one season of fun. Nevertheless, some developments in this ongoing hype are interesting to mention here. Why? Because the urban agriculture scene seems to become mature.
Trend 9: Want To Claim Your City? There’s An App For That
Ownership of the city and its public space has become a big theme over the last years. While today's placemakers, urban interventionists and community activators are concerned with 're-claiming' physical spaces, the online world sees the rise of all kinds of location-based apps and games that enable users to claim ownership of public space in a digital world.
Trend 10: The Rise Of Indie Architecture
One of the side effects of the crisis in the building and financial sector is that it has become harder for architects to find new projects. As a result, the sector has to be extra creative to do what it wants to do. A new approach to architecture is on the rise, in which some architects start to do it all themselves. They don’t need a project developer or local government for a project, but do it at their own risk instead. They become indie architects.
10 Trends For 2013
Dear readers, as the end-of-the-year trend storm in other parts of the blogosphere has subsided, the time has come for us to speak up and share our infamous Pop-Up City-flavored selection of urban trends and developments for 2013. We'll be posting a fresh insight every day for the next two weeks. Stay tuned if you want to read something new.
Best Of 2012
Here at Pop-Up City it has become an end-of-the-year tradition to bring you a selection of the most interesting, thought-provoking and appealing articles that have been published over the last 12 months.
Belgian Brewery Provides Night Buses in Ghent
The municipal government of Ghent decided to collaborate with De Koninck beer brewery to maintain the public transport service at night.
Coca-Cola Launches Pop-Up Dining Room
Coca-Cola is known for its always surprising marketing campaigns. This time the Atlanta-based producer of the sugary black gold joined forces with the Italian TV-chef Simone Rugiati to promote eating together with friends or family. On a cozy plaza in Naples, Italy a converted Coca-Cola delivery truck pulled out a dining table. Inside the truck Simone Rugiati was cooking a wide variety of local dishes. As the video shows, everybody was invited to join in on the fun.
Buy Your City A Landmark
London’s brand-new landmark looks like two cranes making love together. In fact, Anish Kapoor's 115 meters high structure is clearly meant to add a new icon to the city of London for the occasion of this year's Olympics.
We, The Tiny House People
'We, The Tiny House People' is a full-length documentary in which TV producer and Huffington Post blogger Kirsten Dirksen explores "the tiny homes of people searching for simplicity, self-sufficiency, minimalism and happiness by creating shelter in caves, converted garages, trailers, tool sheds, river boats and former pigeon coops".
