Brand Urbanism
Smurbanism Works!
What was supposed to be a temporary transformation looks to be a permanent change. The South Spanish town Juzcar was turned entirely blue for the latest Smurfs movie by Sony Pictures. After 141 days blueness, the inhabitants of the small town have voted to keep the façades of the buildings blue forever. The reason is […]
Let’s Paint The World’s Ugliest City
With the project Couleurs Carolo, the Dutch company AkzoNobel aims to support the Belgian city of Charleroi to become a bit more colorful.
AOL’s Rainbow City
We predicted the top trend of 2011 to be ‘marketing is urbanism’, which stands for the increasing involvement of brands and companies in shaping the urban atmosphere. Brand exposure seems to go beyond ordinary advertising — it has become an integral part of urbanism, architecture and urban planning practice. AOL’s Rainbow City is just another campaign […]
How The Facebook Generation Starts A Design Office
An interesting development in the world of architecture and design are new types of experimental offices. Traditional firms are slowly being replaced by new architecture start-ups and old fashion 20th century thinking is replaced by a fresh 21st century approach. The new office is no office!
Top 10 Trends For 2011
Over the last year we have written articles about urban culture and innovation in cities on a daily basis. Reflecting on 2010 and looking into the new year, we have put together a Top 10 of the most remarkable trends that we spotted. We have deepened these out a little in a series of ten […]
Trend 1: Marketing Is Urbanism
In 2010 diverse campaigns broke the straight barrier between public space and brand promotion. Brand exposure goes beyond ordinary advertising and even one step further from guerrilla marketing — it has become an integral part of urbanism, urban planning. Since a growing number of governments have less money to spend, they need the financial support […]
Trend 2: Bloggers Are The New City-Branders
Most bloggers with an international audience write a lot about what happens in their home town — the place were they live and know about all the good stuff happening there. Doing so, they are great ambassadors of their city (most of the times unconsciously), and do a great job when it comes to promoting local […]
Trend 3: Do Good, Earn A Badge
Last year we showcased a number of projects, ideas and services that incorporate the concept of gamification — “the use of game play mechanics for non-game applications”, as Wikipedia describes it. The most prominent example among the location-based apps is undoubtedly Foursquare, the massively used check-in service that managed to hit 5 million users in 2010. Foursquare […]
Trend 4: Pop-Up Everywhere
Architects have to cope with a severe crisis due to the financial downfall. They have to find other projects to work on and broaden their professional scope. Temporary solutions and pop-up constructions have been built all over the globe. Each and every household product has been used to create little pavilions that often lack a […]
Trend 5: From Digital To Real
Many things happening in the digital space have a big impact on the physical. Specifically when it comes to urban art. Cursors pop up on urban squares and tweets are painted on walls and buildings. Over the last year(s) the Internet, and more specifically social media, have continuously inspired (street) artists to act in public […]
Trend 6: Everything Is A Coffee Bar
While Starbucks and other coffee companies are trying to colonize urban centers around the world with new shops, coffee culture itself has gone beyond the straightly designed hang-outs of the famous chains. We all know about the book stores that have a coffee bar inside, but relatively new are other urban shops, stores and services […]
Trend 7: The Reinvention Of The Wheel
Bikes become cooler and cooler in the world city of today. Adopted by hipsters as a sustainable, healthy and cool way of transport, we have seen bike shops, coffee bars and cafés pop up everywhere, such as Look Mum No Hands in London and the pop-up bars slash shops slash galleries Rapha’s Cycle Club and Lock 7 in […]
