Millions of new eyes?and feet?on the street This story was originally published on July 15, 2016. It has been updated alongside the 12/12 release of new Pokemon in Pokemon Go.
For the past seven days?has it really only been a week"?Pokémon Go has transformed millions of people?s relationships to where they live. But another remarkable phenomenon is underway: Just by getting people to embark upon those journeys for Jigglypuffs, Pokémon Go is actually making cities better places?without any major financial investments from those cities themselves.
The charming vignettes of a video game uniting strangers on sidewalks (and luring them into lakes) seem cribbed from some utopian vision of the future. You?ve heard all the stories, and if you live in a relatively densely populated area, you?ve likely experienced them yourself. Players gathering in public places, talking to neighbors they hadn?t met before, discovering buildings they never knew existed, making a few very awkward discoveries, and probably shedding a few pounds in the process. Some of these things?like thousands of young people swarming a city park of their own free will?represent the kind of civic engagement that cities have previously tried to achieve with well-funded improvements. But the notable thing about Pokémon is that this all has happened with no public health initiative, no marketing campaign, no infrastructural changes. Pokémon might be a fun complement to an already bustling urban center, ...