Spotlight on: Stefan Georg (CTO)
I'm downtown
Observing and analyzing help us understand public life in a city. WHATALOCATION goes to great lengths to measure and analyze people and their interactions with urban space. With these insights, we can map the "life" of a city and try to make improvements in various places. Combining this knowledge with data from retail, real estate, advertising, and urban planning companies is highly appealing from a technological point of view. I want to dedicate myself to this task as the new Chief Technical Officer of WHATALOCATION because I, too, am an inner-city person and want to leave my children a livable urban space.
Our cities are unique; no two histories are alike. Different cultural influences, historical events, and the natural environment allowed each city to grow into a unique specimen. However, what has been increasingly forgotten in recent years is the strength of their authenticity. The current pandemic, like a catalyst, is igniting the long-simmering flame called downtown into a veritable inferno if we are not careful.
WHATALOCATION closely examined and compared people's behavior in 25 major German cities from 2019 to 2020. Of course, there were no surprises, as everyone knows from their own experience how they spent the year 2020. But the evidence provided by valid data only allows us to understand the influence that a city's residents have on the survival of its city center. Currently, it's not just retail as a city unit that's changing, but the "downtown" ecosystem as a whole. And much of what we have forced ourselves to adopt in our movement patterns during this time will endure in the long term because it's not just a matter of old A locations being B locations in many places today and vice versa.
The needs of our residents have changed in the short term, and a large proportion is noticing how some of these aspects are positively impacting their lives. The fact that many people are currently resorting to alternative means of transportation, adopting their consumer behavior to the current offerings, or fundamentally becoming more involved with their neighborhoods is also impacting the real estate market. Of course, we want to maintain this situation long-term because no one gives up an improved quality of life so quickly.
Conversely, the current situation in Germany has also revealed negative aspects of our habits faster than we would have liked. These new challenges and opportunities urgently require critical reflection on previous urban structures and ideas on how we can rethink the inner city ecosystem. Everyone involved in urban development needs to understand urban development in its active role when looking at it. The pandemic is an opportunity, and that the residents of our cities are ready to adapt is proven by data.
But in which atmospheres can new ideas grow? First, we need to understand that simply maintaining city centers by providing financial support to bridge the crisis is not a sustainable solution. Let's instead consider the aid as a first aid measure, nothing more. Innovative and creative ideas that reflect the opinions and needs of citizens, as well as a lot of courage and change, contribute to long-term stabilization.
Returning to one's own is needed, not another shopping center with a polished facade. People long for authentic places where people like to meet and spend time. Areas with personality, with rough edges as the core of their nature. And if this is not taken care of, then we citizens become active ourselves and create these places in our neighborhoods without the support of the responsible actors. Already today, this independent change can be seen here and there.
The idea that our work can help answer all these questions in the long term makes me confident. Ultimately, we don't just want to evaluate the movement of passersby but to shed light on countless questions and challenges facing our city centers. To do this, we must bring together companies from retail, real estate, marketing, and urban planning. Everyone depends on everyone else. Creating a 'Digital Urban Business Twin' will be an exciting task for me, with significant social benefits. I am very much looking forward to maybe working with you soon. Yours, Stefan Georg (stefan@whatalocation.io).
