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.
MOSS: A Flexible Office Concept For Backyards
Working from places other than the good ol’ office building has taken a big leap over the last decades. New York-based designer Victor Vetterlein came up with these conceptual backyard office units that allow people to work from home.
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?
Goedzak: Because One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure
As a blogger, you come across plenty of good ideas every day. Sometimes you come across brilliant ideas. The so-called 'Goedzak' is such an idea. Developed by Amsterdam-based product design agency Waarmakers, the Goedzak is a special garbage bag for items that are still usable. 'Goedzak' means both 'good bag' and 'do-gooder' in Dutch. According to designers Simon Akkaya and Maarten Heijltjes, their concept is a friendly way to give products a second chance and stimulate sustainable behavior.
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.
FabCafe: Please Don’t Spill Coffee On The Laser Cutters
Last year the world's first FabCafe opened doors in Tokyo's Shibuya district. The place is an exciting environment furnished with a variety of digital fabrication tools, including a laser cutter. Actually it's a coffee bar and fab lab it the same time.
Sitegeist: A Social Dashboard For The Neighborhood
The Sunlight Foundation released a smartphone (iOS/Android) app that enables users to retrieve information and data about the surrounding neighborhood. The Sitegeist app, as it is called, gets its information from various open sources such as Yelp reviews, Foursquare check-ins, US Census Bureau data and weather information. All this information is being visualized into attractive graphs. With these graphs, users can find out things like average age, climate or median income in a certain area.
Win A Copy Of ‘Indie Brands’!
Two weeks ago we published our review of Anneloes van Gaalen's Indie Brands, a book that highlights 30 new-style, independent enterprises that inspire and tell a story. We're happy to give away two copies of the book to our readers!
When The Sidewalk Becomes A Waterbed
Artist collective Raum created a very special pavement in Bourges, France. What characterizes this pavement is that it isn't hard, but floats. The project, called 'La Ville Molle' ('The Soft City'), questions the hardness of the city and its ability to change.
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.
Talk Back To The City
YOUR TEXT HERE is a participatory, site-specific light installation, created by Marcos Zotes. For the occasion of DLECTRICTY, an outdoor light art festival that took place in Detroit last October, the architect transformed the façade of a large heat production plant into a giant display board that reflected the variety of voices existent in the area.
Modern Architecture With A Bald Head
Earlier this month Sony Argentina organized the first edition of Silent Day. The 'day' wants to add a new perspective on sound and environment. But, above all, Silent Day was initiated to promote Sony's new series of headphones. To draw extra attention to the project, Sony added some giant headphones to a piece of modern architecture in Buenos Aires.
