Summary: In this pilot episode of Third Wave Urbanism, Kristen and Katrina discuss the Pokémon Go phenomenon and how it relates to public spaces in cities. As millennials, we grew up with the early introduction of technology in the household, but also the intersection between digital and reality as we spent time in semi-public arcades and simultaneously playing hand-held video games at home. As urbanists, we are interested in the impact of this and other augmented reality applications on our public spaces, and what the future holds for urban planning and gamification. So is this a good thing, or is it just a distraction? Tune in to find out our take based on our experience, the many articles out on the subject, and through discussions with fellow urbanists. Here are some of the recent articles covering the debate that we use as a reference for this episode: The Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/07/where-did-pokemon-go-get-its-map/490799/ Roar Magazine: https://roarmag.org/essays/pokemon-go-where-google-says/ FastCo Design: http://www.fastcodesign.com/3061718/pokemon-go-is-quietly-helping-people-discover-their-cities City Lab: http://www.citylab.com/navigator/2016/07/pokemon-go-flaneur-baudelaire/490796/ Jacobin Magazine: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/07/pokemon-go-pokestops-game-situationist-play-children/ Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pokemon-go-cities-walking-public-space_us_578e8581e4b07c722ebc993e Slate: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/07/12/pokemon_go_vs_the_racism_and_sexism_of_the_outside_world.html The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/jul/22/urban-gamification-pokemon-go-transform-public-spaces?CMP=fb_a-cities_b-gdncities ArchDaily: http://www.archdaily.com/791694/21st-century-nolli-how-pokemon-go-and-augmented-reality-could-shape-our-cities Dead Men's Eyes: http://www.dead-mens-eyes.org/why-pokemon-go-should-not-be-the-future-of-an-engaged-public/ Belt Magazine: http://beltmag.com/memorializing-tamir-rice/?utm_source=AOL&utm_medium=readMore&utm_campaign=partner Project for Public Spaces: http://www.pps.org/blog/go-pokemon-go-the-social-life-of-virtual-urban-spaces/ LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tn-pokemon-demographics-20160718-snap-story.html And that funny Pikachu-saddle picture: http://hypebeast.com/2016/7/pawel-kuczynski-pokemon-go Our intro music is "Urban Life" by Gustavs Strazdin used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode
