Episode 01: Pokemon Go and Public Space

Third Wave Urbanism
Third Wave Urbanism
2 min readMay 2, 2017
Apparent “architectural elements” as a Pokestop in Queens, NY (Photo by Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman)

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.

You can also listen to our Preview episode here where we introduce ourselves and our backgrounds in urban studies.

Here are some of the recent articles covering the debate that we use as a reference for this episode:

The Atlantic: www.theatlantic.com/technology/arch…its-map/490799/

Roar Magazine: roarmag.org/essays/pokemon-go-where-google-says/

FastCo Design: www.fastcodesign.com/3061718/pokemo…r-their-cities

City Lab: www.citylab.com/navigator/2016/07…audelaire/490796/

Jacobin Magazine: www.jacobinmag.com/2016/07/pokemon…-play-children/

Huffington Post: www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pokemon…07c722ebc993e

Slate: www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/201…outside_world.html

The Guardian: www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/jul…ies_b-gdncities

ArchDaily: www.archdaily.com/791694/21st-cent…shape-our-cities

Dead Men’s Eyes: www.dead-mens-eyes.org/why-pokemon-g…gaged-public/

Belt Magazine: beltmag.com/memorializing-tamir…tm_campaign=partner

Project for Public Spaces: www.pps.org/blog/go-pokemon-go-…rtual-urban-spaces/

LA Times: www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tn…8-snap-story.html

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Third Wave Urbanism
Third Wave Urbanism

A podcast on what we like to call the third wave of livable urbanism in the 21st century as told by two young urbanists Katrina + Kristen.