Flexibility and rapid change in the rigid urban landscape

We’ve grown accustomed to the Internet as a platform built around behaviors of rapid adaptability and user responsiveness. Within this paradigm, businesses and individuals take action and capture large audiences at a pace that would seem impossible ten years ago. Now there is an increasing desire to enable that same flexibility and speed of responsiveness in the physical public space of our cities.

However, unlike the online world, there are rigid constraints in urban real estate with limitations from property laws, city ordinances, and the length of time, effort, and capital it takes to rent, purchase, or modify property. Despite this, many companies and individual initiatives are recognizing that the way to capture an audience “in real life” is to create constantly evolving and participatory spaces that do not yield to the limitations of the traditional-built environment.

"Fuel to see cities as fluid", nice roundup by beau