Creation of places is a concept known in academic and urban planning since the 1960s, but has gained traction with private real estate developers, retailers, educators, mobility brands and multinational coworking spaces in recent years. This increased focus on developing happier and healthier places for people to thrive offers unique opportunities for brands and for the search industry as well.

Creation of places means creating places that put people and communities, their needs, vision, desires and aspirations ahead of the planning and construction of housing, office, parking and shopping center units. Places where the positive connections between community, schools, rental housing, green spaces, cars, sidewalks and pedestrians are considered and integrated into the design of the place from the outset. Jan Gehl, author of Cities for people, said: “First life, then spaces, then buildings – the reverse never works.”

There are two main reasons why we should pay attention to Creation of places in 2022.

First, the business opportunity to provide our customers with new ways to understand and plan how to participate and make a difference to communities. Some recent examples of creation of places memories include:

• A forward-looking research program informing the development of an all-new smart city being built in the desert
• Designing the common space of student housing to increase student health, well-being and performance
• Conserving history and what makes a place unique while building modern housing in a London suburb
• City branding and identifying key drivers for visiting a particular city to help reposition the destination
• Understanding urban futures and how we will be living and shopping in two to three years around the world
• Exploring how a ridesharing app can provide social and safe urban mobility rather than just moving people from point A to point B.

The second possibility concerns our research methods. To do creation of places on the right, there is a need to develop more holistic, multidimensional and interdisciplinary methodologies. Innovation in this area will ultimately help advance research approaches for the benefit of our clients.

Here are some principles we picked up along the way, to inspire you how you can plan and execute successfully. creation of places to research:

The community knows best – allow enough time to talk to local participants about their needs, aspirations, desires and visions. Creation of places relies heavily on strong community participation and buy-in from the start.

Several methods and touch points – the interactions of people in places are better studied over time; using multiple methodologies and touch points including real-time diaries, street safaris and on-site ethnography, as well as retrospective interviews, surveys or focus groups. Don’t be afraid to build a multi-method approach with participants to capture the full picture. Be holistic and capture multiple touch points is larger than large samples.

More observation, less talk – there is greater value in observing places and how people interact there rather than just asking for answers. Isolated interview responses are likely to be over-rationalized and could be based on false memories.

Immersion in real life via remote methods – always try to hang out on your own, interact with the community, grab a coffee, try to park your bike nearby, chat with someone on a park bench, and get local during a day. Nothing beats the real deal of you being there.

Call on the experts – urban development, the way we live, work, buy and move in cities is changing and many trends in various categories are defining what the places of the future could look like, driverless cars to connected homes, biomimicry architecture, etc Don’t be afraid to engage experts in your research to help paint a picture of the future.

Don’t Forget Digital Sources – creation of places is not just a matter of physical space. We increasingly live our lives online and share our love for our neighborhoods or our favorite urban destinations on social media. To truly understand the conversation around a location, tune into social keywords, hashtags and geo marking.

Semiotics matters – the places themselves and the objects in these spaces have meaning. The color of a wall, the texture of a park bench, as well as the placement of advertising in a bus shelter, communicate various messages and make us feel and interact in different ways inside the places. We work with our semioticians not only to understand, but also to help give recommendations on how brands can control the meaning of their interactions and their impact in places.

One size does not fit all when it comes to designing research approaches that enhance the experience of places. Mixing skills and methods and experimentation are recommended to help meet the demands of creation of places challenges of the future.

Creation of places briefs now also go beyond the traditional creation of places categories to food, beverages, entertainment, indoor outfit, alcohol and sportswear brands, which are now beginning to pay attention to their role in creating places that care about people’s health, happiness for themselves, their families and their communities.

The role of brands in creation of places is important for both product and marketing, to retain and grow customers. Whether a brand wants to advertise, create an immersive experience, redevelop the shopping experience or open a restaurant, their role and their interactions within this place are increasingly crucial for brand perception. In the future, we anticipate that people will expect more emphasis on creation of places, and therefore brands that can appear and contribute to new, innovative and people-central the ways will succeed.

Doctor Matilda Andersson is Group Managing Director at Crowd DNA.