AMAZON GO |
Amazon Go was introduced in 2016 as the first grocery store to simply let you walk out with whatever items you purchased – no register, no lines. It offers pretty much everything a regular store provides, including fresh produce, meat and seafood as well as bakery items and household essentials. It opened in Seattle in 2017 after much anticipation. It works like this: Users walk in with the Amazon Go app. Then, using state-of-the-art RFID and different tracking technologies, the store automatically detects which items the user takes, and charges them accordingly as soon as they step out of the store. It’s as easy as shopping can get, and it fits perfectly in the urban nomad worldview: a place to grab whatever you need and go, so you can leave to the next place.
Behavioral Trend: Facilitate My Life / Urban NomadsSource: amazon.com / Trendwatcher: Andrea Lobo |
Trend: Urban Nomads
READY SET VAN |
In recent years, the #Vanlife trend has emerged among intrepid and adventurous influencers, who decide to abandon traditional housing for modified, completely decked out vans, and lead their lives on the road. Accordingly, companies who customise these vans have shown up – one of these is Ready Set Van, a New Jersey-based startup that previously designed a party bus for Burning Man festival. Ready Set Van installs fully-functional, Tesla battery-powered fixtures like sinks, toilets and even kitchenware inside industrial-grade vans, making sure that “vanlifers” have everything they need to live nomadically.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: readysetvan.com / Trendwatcher: Andrea Lobo |
COVID WORKATION |
The COVID-19 pandemic has enforced lockdown measures in nearly every country on Earth, radically transforming the way we execute business and live our lives. However, not everyone’s lockdown was the same: some took the chance just before flights were cancelled and got on a plane to the most exotic destination they could find, to quarantine themselves in style. This phenomenon, widely known as “workations”, has even prompted countries who are reeling from lack of tourism to offer special “remote-work” visas, which feed into the economy and provide the irresistible prospect of a paradisiac remote office for holed-in urban nomads.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: cnn.com (article) / Trendwatcher: Andrea Lobo |
NETGEAR |
If we’re on the go, we need the fastest, most portable mobile Wi-Fi options out there. Netgear checks all the boxes, providing top-of-the-line hardware that is sure to enable your independence while carrying out your activities across the city and beyond. In addition to portable Wi-Fi, Netgear also offers some of the most advanced home routers out there, ensuring seamless connection wherever you might be.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: netgear.com / Trendwatcher: Andres Rodriguez |
NOMADLIST |
In the 1960s, futurists were predicting that we would be able to take our work operations on the go, being able to work as easily from London as we would from Bali. As long as you have internet and your trusty devices, wherever you decide to settle in can become your office. As a way to guide these wanderlust-driven individuals, Nomad List was born: A community-based platform for rating cities around the world based on standards like cost of living, friendliness to foreigners, weather, and Internet speed. Thousands of nomads leave their impressions for potential future residents, making it easier than ever to decide your next remote office.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: nomadlist.com / Trendwatcher: Andres Rodriguez |
BOBBY ANTI-THEFT BACKPACK |
Today’s urban nomads need the best safety options available – and that includes backpacks. Too often are we victims of pickpocketing and petty theft, particularly in public transport and crowded spaces. The Dutch design team XD-Design created the Bobby backpack as an alternative to carrying your backpack in front of you. Made of slice-proof, weatherproof material, the Bobby backpack also features a strategic hidden zipper, preventing unwanted access to your goods. A basic approach to keeping our goods safe while enabling the mobility and flexibility we desire.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: xd-design.com / Trendwatcher: Ivan Babic |
ROOM MATE HOTELS: BEMATE |
The rise of Airbnb and other local apartment rental options has shifted the way we think about our travel accommodations. However, a key component that seems to be missing when we enter these hyper-local places to stay, is the range of amenities that hotels offer that local apartments don’t: room service, daily cleaning, concierge services, you name it. When you decide to take up an apartment, it’s your duty to keep it in the state you received it, and when you’re an urban nomad, you don’t really have time for chores. BeMate matches guests, apartments and hotels to provide the best of both worlds: a cozy, local, homey environment with the five-star services of hotels, filling the missing gap in 21st-century accommodation. In addition, BeMate offers free citywide Wi-Fi connectivity for its guests using WiMate technology, which has earned them the Worldwide Hospitality Awards, rounding out each guest’s experience.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: room-matehotels.com / Trendwatcher: Ivan Babic |
PORTO VINO |
In olden times, we used to carry around flasks to discreetly take a sip of our favorite comfort drink, alcoholic or not. Now, we can hold up to two bottles of our drink of choice concealed in a stylish handbag – the Porto Vino. The most outrageous way to sneak in a drink anytime, anywhere, saving you time, money, and energy, the three most valuable assets of an urban nomad as they glide through the city.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: porto-vino.com / Trendwatcher: Andrea Lobo |
SELF-DRIVING BICYCLE |
Google Netherlands’ 2016 April’s Fools Day prank poked fun at the self-driving technology developed at Waymo, Google’s sister company, this time applied to the bicycle, the ubiquitous form of transportation in the Netherlands. However, this lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek campaign ended up predicting a real self-driving bicycle designed by researchers in China in 2019. The bike can move on its own using the highly advanced Tianjic chip, opening the door to new ways of automating our transport and getting to our destinations with the least amount of effort possible.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: analyticsindiamag.com (article) / Trendwatcher: Andrea Lobo |
SKYROAM |
Skyroam provides affordable, wide-ranging, fast Wi-Fi coverage in over 135 countries, in addition to their multi-function hotspot devices, making it the best option conceivable for constant travellers and saving considerable money on data and roaming plans. A straightforward pay-when-you-need-it model ensures users don’t underuse their plans, while remaining accessible and convenient for most. It also doubles as a power bank, so your devices never run out of battery at the wrong time, plus its remote camera with Moments feature lets you take candid selfies anywhere, anytime. In short: Skyroam is an urban nomad’s best ally for navigating the world and the Web.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: skyroam.com / Trendwatcher: Andrea Lobo |
WEWORK |
Wework is a coworking space with features like networking, events, classes, workshops, coffee, high speed internet, printing, boardroom, common areas, cleaning, and telephone booths. They offer an incredible workspace, connections with a global community and aim for entrepreneurs, freelancers and startups to make their businesses grow. In other words, WeWork is the ideal co-working space for energetic urban nomads who are itching to sit down and concentrate on their latest project, or those who need a private meeting space, or those who simply want to meet like-minded people.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: wework.com / Trendwatcher: Andrea Lobo |
LIME |
Lime provides accessible, shareable forms of transportation – micromobility, as they call it, for all. They let users take rides on all kinds of shareable vehicles, from electric bikes and scooters to electric mopeds, in select cities around the world. Not depending on Uber, Lyft or other ride-hailing platforms is even more crucial during the pandemic, as sharing closed spaces with strangers is seen as risky and undesirable. Lime liberates urban nomads to go where they need to go, entirely on their own.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: li.me / Trendwatcher: Andres Rodriguez |
SLACK |
Slack has made waves in the corporate sphere in recent years as a revolutionary tool for workplace communication and organization. The platform is centered around ‘channels’, which are specific chatroom-like interfaces which allow for quick sharing of important information between employees, while archiving all that information for later searching. The main draw for Slack is that it increases productivity by not having to ask people what they said or what the latest update is– you can simply search for it in the related channel, decreasing our time lost finding things out and enabling us to keep up with work wherever we are.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: slack.com / Trendwatcher: Ivan Babic |
ZOOM |
Video-calling is nothing new. However, the features and innovations that Zoom has put on the table have made countless meetings, school lessons and even parties happen in an age of confinement and social distance. The ways in which we are forced to reimagine gatherings have placed Zoom at the center of most digital conversations, amid virtual backgrounds and shared screens. Whether or not we’re on the go, Zoom frees us from the conference room letting us take meetings and conversations wherever we may be, at any time.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: zoom.us / Trendwatcher: Andres Rodriguez |
LEVI’S JACQUARD JACKET |
Google’s truly innovative Jacquard project is slowly expanding the possibilities of wearable tech: our clothes can be smart too, nowadays. One of the first experimental outcomes of the project has been the Trucker Jacket, a collaboration with celebrated classic denim maker Levi’s. This jacket allows the user to control their phone with a simple tap on the sleeve, and can even notify users that their ride is here with a simple vibration. A welcome alternative from the clichéd smartwatch approach, the Levi’s Jacquard Trucker Jacket can provide urban nomads with hassle-free information even when they can’t look at their phones.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: atap.google.com / Trendwatcher: Andres Rodriguez |
GORE-TEX |
If we’re constantly on the move, we need clothes that protect us in every environment. Gore-Tex has made a name for itself as one of the most durable and protective material providers, working with renowned outerwear companies like Arc’teryx, Bass Pro Shops and Sitka to provide the best weatherproof properties to their products. Simply unmatched in quality and protection, Gore-Tex products are the best match for those nomads who need above-average protection.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: gore-tex.com / Trendwatcher: Andrea Lobo |
HOMEPLUS VIRTUAL STORES |
Subway walls in Seoul (South Korea) were covered with virtual displays of over 500 of the most popular products in Tesco’s Homeplus discount stores. Each product was equipped with barcodes which are able to be scanned by customers on the go using their smartphones. Payment is processed instantly and once they get home, they find their order waiting for them.
Behavioral Trend: Facilitate My Life / Urban NomadsSource: businesstoday.in (article) / Trendwatcher: Ivan Babic |
BIRKSUN |
Our dependence on gadgets put us in continuous stress for power sources, so when we go into the wild we need alternate & portable energy. Birksun makes backpacks with incorporated solar panels.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: birksun.com / Trendwatcher: Ivan Babic |
IBM 5100 |
The 1st portable computer by IBM. Even before internet, there was a growing need for being mobile and pervasive.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: wikipedia/IBM5100 / Trendwatcher: Ivan Babic |
MACINTOSH |
The Macintosh (Mac) project paid always lots of attention to portability and personal usage of computers. In the picture, the 1st Mac with a 512kb RAM, launched in 1984.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: wikipedia/Mac512K / Trendwatcher: Ivan Babic |
ZOKU HOTEL |
The Zoku hotel concept is a mixture of a hotel accommodation and a short stay office for professionals who have to stay in a city for a project or regular work for a period between five days and three months.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: livezoku.com / Trendwatcher: Andrea Lobo |
WHAT 3 WORDS |
what3words is a really simple way to talk about location. They have divided the world into a grid of 3m x 3m squares and assigned each square a unique 3-word address. It means anyone can accurately find any location and share it more quickly, easily and with less ambiguity than any other system.
Behavioral Trend: The Reign of the Urban NomadsSource: what3words.com / Trendwatcher: Ivan Babic |
