– Your Bright Brothers Team
David Romako / Josh Yeager /  Brandi Walsh

…two editions ago we did a little round-up on prediction pieces and trends for 2022, and we’re back at it with this eight-point piece from SmartCitiesDive that focuses on trends our cities will continue to see in the coming year. Some of it is perhaps difficult to embrace, yet still worthy of a read. Two trends that got us all hubba hubba pertain to micromobility and electrification. In particular, the electrification section touches on topics we explored in our latest Trends Report on “Illuminated Placemaking”, and if you haven’t downloaded your FREE copy, do it now! 

Photo credit: Okai Vehicles, Unsplash

Many cities were able to flip on a dime to implement temporary changes to urban infrastructure during the pandemic. Now, with two years of research and data under our belts — we’re beginning to see some wins that worked in both the States, as well as Europe. This Fast Company piece, explores success stories from over 200 cities globally and delves into what’s worked and what hasn’t. From biking and mobility to outdoor dining and walkability, the results may astonish you.   

Photo credit:  Street Plans

As placemakers and urban planners, we often read wild success stories out of Europe and think, “that won’t work here”, and you may not be wrong. There are several crucial differences between European cities and those in the States, and most of these “yeah, well, but” arguments are predicated on things like sheer expanse of land/density in the US, the progressiveness of communities and their governments, and almost always come back to America’s love affair with the automobile. (Sidebar, see our two Trends Reports on “Cars, COVID & Placemaking” here.) We’d like to highlight a few dual-sided discussions in this edition with our new POINT| COUNTERPOINT section:

• This piece from StreetsBlog USA explores Europe’s nearly doubling of cyclists during the pandemic with pop-up bike lanes (and why they may or may not work in the States.)
• This no-holds-barred piece from Slate explains how/why we should stop obsessing over European infrastructure because it won’t make us any less car-dependent in North America.
• And this Politico piece delves into the backlash against our “patron saint” Anne Hidalgo of the 15-minute city fame, and why her urban, utopian efforts may cost her the upcoming presidential election.

Make waves and you’re bound to get backsplash, and we’d love to hear your take. Are there lessons to be learned, or even directional information and inspiration to be gleaned from an ever-greening Europe? Or should America stay its own course, carbon emissions be damned?

Photo credit:  Joshua J Cotten, Unsplash

We just loved this inventive and creative video from the official Philadelphia CVB,(as opposed to “the unofficial one” — go figure) tying together current events (Year of the Tiger) and local assets into a fun and clever content strategy designed for engagement. They didn’t have to program anything, host an event or invest in the public realm to make this happen. It’s a smart, savvy and lightweight example that hopefully inspires you too!

Photo credit: @discover_phl and Tiger Suger

When life gives you algae, turn it into lemonade. Or a waterpark, perhaps. This inspiring story out of Frederick, MD tells a tale of some smart placemaking that tackles an unforeseen problem, that ultimately ended up enhancing the flood plain infrastructure that was installed over the course of 30+ years. Now a blooming win for the adorable Downtown Frederick — this is one of those must-visit, historic downtowns that’s absolutely booming with indie retail, a delectable food scene, admirable foot-traffic and something for everyone.
 
Photo credit: David Kidd