Starting from the natural city entry point of Kolding train station, we would like to nudge people into a visual treasure hunt of the city’s possibilities. Abandoned storefronts, closure signs and closure sales evoke a feeling of a ”dying town”. By using graphic gems to highlight available spaces, we aim to nudge people into seeing them as spaces of opportunity rather than unused spaces. On each gem there will be a link to a website, which will enable people to connect to a network with incentives encouraging them to establish businesses there.

Gems of Kolding

How might we draw people into Kolding’s spaces of opportunity?

A three-teered nudge strategy to nourish city life

network

enabling a network of ownership and responsibility for city life

gems visualizing opportunities to encourage longer stays

frame

inviting entry

A problem with universal relevance Kolding municipality has conducted a number of analyses which point out that the people of Kolding consider their city center to be boring. Abandoned storefronts, closure signs and closure sales evoke a feeling of a �dying town�. We believe this is a universal scenario, and though we are approaching it from the specific context of Kolding in this instance, our nudging design solution is something that could be adapted to other towns experiencing the same issues. The key features of our concept are to evoke renewed curiosity, and to reframe the perceived experience of something dying as an opportunity for new growth.

From a “dying city� to a treasure hunt of possibilities Entering the city of Kolding from the train station is convoluted and unclear, causing people to have to ask for directions, or find their way through trial and error. People walk by vacant storefronts and buildings in Kolding, perceiving them as signals of a dying city, rather than spaces that can involve them. There is no visible proactive approach, network or system of incentives inviting people to re-occupy available spaces.

Targeting City Life By orienting people to the city. By getting people to notice the unused spaces as opportunities. By encouraging the municipality and commercial real estate to be proactive and collaborate in establishing a network to attract businesses into unused spaces. A network of collaboration and incentives will enable people to get involved.

The impact can be measured By counting people moving to the city center via the framed entry point. By counting visitors to the website and how many of these that actually set up businesses through this venue. By counting the number of people who are attracted to the incentive offered. By measuring turnover of the featured vacant spaces.