Urban

How will people meet up in the future? How will we foster good vibes, productivity and creativity? And how can meeting places be redesigned? The answers to these and other intriguing questions were provided by international thought leaders and entrepreneurs at the GDI Trend Day, which took place on 10 March 2021. The following is summary of what they had to say.

Public spaces are essential for city dwellers and must be cleverly designed. But how can this be done after the pandemic? A researcher from Finland explains how smart city design works with the help of data.

Creative ideas aren’t born in a stark and uninspiring office space. Real estate developer Fredrik Carlström is convinced of this. At the 17th European Trend Day on 10 March, Carlström demonstrated how he creates workplaces for innovation, and how we can expect to be working after the pandemic.

"During lockdown, when people were actually missing public spaces, they still chose not to use the traditional retail spaces. Because they’re not considered to be high quality public spaces anymore," says Kristian Villadsen, partner at urban strategy firm Gehl, in an interview.

We need to create cities where the most comfortable and simple lifestyle is also the healthiest and most sustainable, says Kristian Villadsen, partner and director at the renowned Danish architectural firm Gehl Architects. At the GDI Retail Summit and here in this interview, Villadsen reveals how the city's retail sector can reinvent itself after Covid-19.

Thomas Sevcik is co-founder of the think tank arthesia and one of the masterminds behind the Autostadt project in Wolfsburg. At the GDI Retail Summit and here in this interview, he talks about the changing shopping behaviour of the middle classes, the role of retail in the city and the dematerialisation of consumption.

The fight against Corona becomes a life with Corona. A new lifestyle is born. In order for concerts, trade fairs and football matches to take place again, organisers and industry must also take unpopular measures, writes GDI researcher Detlef Gürtler.

It is not yet certain how consumers will behave in the "New Normal" after the peak of the crisis. What is clear is that ideas and developments are already emerging in the retail sector that would not have existed without the pandemic. Three examples.

In cities, proximity prevails, but the pandemic requires physical distance. How can this dilemma be solved? And how will the public space change? GDI researcher Marta Kwiatkowski identifies six topics that will shape the post-coronavirus city.

In Paris, the preservation of a manifold  retail landscape is a public task. Semaest, a company commissioned by the city, buys shop premises and rents them out to small retailers at favourable rates. Semaest director Emmanuelle Hoss explains here and at the GDI Retail Summit how she is protecting the shopping districts of Paris from desolation.