Globalization typically reduces local differences. Shake Shack in Toronto is a lot like the Shake Shack in Dubai. But does this also apply to the inside of our homes?

This is a question that was recently asked by researchers at the MIT Senseable City Lab. And to answer it, they used AI to analyze over 400,000 interior images across 80 global cities. The images were taken from Airbnb, but they did also do a "robustness check" and pull images from Craigslist, Zillow, Zigbang, and Ohou.

What they discovered was that geography still matters. Local customs persist, and when two cities are close to each other, they tend to share visual similarities — both in terms of the objects that show up and how they look. So much so that their model was able to predict a city with an accuracy of about 45% just by looking at interior photos.

This is somewhat surprising to me as I thought that Airbnb listings might have skewed toward homogeneity. There can also be an Airbnb aesthetic. But local tastes and traditions still exist. For example, the study found that Turkey seems to place a high level of importance on curtains. Big drapery people over there, apparently.

At the same time, globalization is doing things. One of their findings was that cities with high flight volumes tend to exhibit more visual similarities. This says something about the value of physical connectivity. We're, of course, all connected digitally, but apparently that's not the same as getting on a plane and physically being somewhere.

"The same, but different" feels like an accurate description. To download a copy of the study, click here.

Cover photo from the MIT Senseable City Lab

Greg Isenberg recently wrote about what he refers to as the fast-foodification of everything — including cities. His arguments are that (1) we have reached peak sameness (Toronto is largely indistinguishable from, say, Sydney) and (2) the best brands and companies going forward will be local, unique, and community-driven.

I don’t know how to assess whether we have reached peak sameness, but I do know that, whatever we are experiencing right now, is at a minimum 100 years in the making. The International Style (of architecture), which emerged after WWI, is exactly what the name suggests. The intent was to fashion an approach to architecture that worked anywhere in the world. Location, climate, and context were all irrelevant.

This approach has been widely criticized for the reasons you might expect and for the reasons that Isenberg outlines in his post. But sameness is not exclusively the result of European architects who wanted to eschew ornament and local flourishes. As the world continues to globalize and become “smaller”, there is an inevitability to this growing and continued sameness. Business wants economies of scale.

But there is no question that, more than ever, people are craving unique and local experiences and places. And if you can create that in our globalized world, you are going to win.

“The concentration of economic growth and prosperity in large metro areas defines the modern global economy, creating both opportunities and challenges in an era in which national political, economic, and societal trends are increasingly influenced by subnational dynamics.” -Brookings Institute

The Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institute has a new report out for 2018 called the Global Metro Monitor.

Here are some of the highlights (data is from 2014 to 2016):

- The 300 largest metro areas in the world accounted for 36% of employment growth and 67% of GDP growth.

- Metro areas in China and the Asia-Pacific region outperformed, whereas Latin American cities, and in particular the largest Brazilian cities, were weaker performers.

- The majority of large metro areas had growth rates that exceeded that of their respective regions. So again, cities are the driver.

And here is an interesting interactive chart (better to click through) that shows the % change in GDP per capita. 

Look at how much of an outlier San Jose is. Though, check out Dublin in the footnote. And if you look at the actual data table, it is all China, except for Dublin at the top.

For the rest of the charts, click here. And to download the full Global Metro Monitor report, click here.

Globalization typically reduces local differences. Shake Shack in Toronto is a lot like the Shake Shack in Dubai. But does this also apply to the inside of our homes?

This is a question that was recently asked by researchers at the MIT Senseable City Lab. And to answer it, they used AI to analyze over 400,000 interior images across 80 global cities. The images were taken from Airbnb, but they did also do a "robustness check" and pull images from Craigslist, Zillow, Zigbang, and Ohou.

What they discovered was that geography still matters. Local customs persist, and when two cities are close to each other, they tend to share visual similarities — both in terms of the objects that show up and how they look. So much so that their model was able to predict a city with an accuracy of about 45% just by looking at interior photos.

This is somewhat surprising to me as I thought that Airbnb listings might have skewed toward homogeneity. There can also be an Airbnb aesthetic. But local tastes and traditions still exist. For example, the study found that Turkey seems to place a high level of importance on curtains. Big drapery people over there, apparently.

At the same time, globalization is doing things. One of their findings was that cities with high flight volumes tend to exhibit more visual similarities. This says something about the value of physical connectivity. We're, of course, all connected digitally, but apparently that's not the same as getting on a plane and physically being somewhere.

"The same, but different" feels like an accurate description. To download a copy of the study, click here.

Cover photo from the MIT Senseable City Lab

Greg Isenberg recently wrote about what he refers to as the fast-foodification of everything — including cities. His arguments are that (1) we have reached peak sameness (Toronto is largely indistinguishable from, say, Sydney) and (2) the best brands and companies going forward will be local, unique, and community-driven.

I don’t know how to assess whether we have reached peak sameness, but I do know that, whatever we are experiencing right now, is at a minimum 100 years in the making. The International Style (of architecture), which emerged after WWI, is exactly what the name suggests. The intent was to fashion an approach to architecture that worked anywhere in the world. Location, climate, and context were all irrelevant.

This approach has been widely criticized for the reasons you might expect and for the reasons that Isenberg outlines in his post. But sameness is not exclusively the result of European architects who wanted to eschew ornament and local flourishes. As the world continues to globalize and become “smaller”, there is an inevitability to this growing and continued sameness. Business wants economies of scale.

But there is no question that, more than ever, people are craving unique and local experiences and places. And if you can create that in our globalized world, you are going to win.

“The concentration of economic growth and prosperity in large metro areas defines the modern global economy, creating both opportunities and challenges in an era in which national political, economic, and societal trends are increasingly influenced by subnational dynamics.” -Brookings Institute

The Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institute has a new report out for 2018 called the Global Metro Monitor.

Here are some of the highlights (data is from 2014 to 2016):

- The 300 largest metro areas in the world accounted for 36% of employment growth and 67% of GDP growth.

- Metro areas in China and the Asia-Pacific region outperformed, whereas Latin American cities, and in particular the largest Brazilian cities, were weaker performers.

- The majority of large metro areas had growth rates that exceeded that of their respective regions. So again, cities are the driver.

And here is an interesting interactive chart (better to click through) that shows the % change in GDP per capita. 

Look at how much of an outlier San Jose is. Though, check out Dublin in the footnote. And if you look at the actual data table, it is all China, except for Dublin at the top.

For the rest of the charts, click here. And to download the full Global Metro Monitor report, click here.