We reckon we’ve all got friends who are constantly operating on ‘Urban Autopilot’. That basically means they are locked within their own bubble of cyber space…or ‘on their phone’ an unhealthy amount of time. So when we’re out and about finding all the new cool things to see and do, generally someone is missing out on all the excitement by changing their Facebook profile pic or ‘loling’ in a WhatsApp group.
All this has come about through new research conducted by American Express who have found 87% of people are operating on ‘Urban Autopilot’ when walking around their own city with just one in five taking the time to look at their surroundings. MADNESS!
Dr Esmée Hanna, sociologist (AKA Brainbox), commented: “’Urban Autopilot’ is a great way to describe our behaviour in cities: all too often it’s about hurrying from one place to another rather than taking time to live in the present. As a result, we don’t always register the richness and diversity of our surroundings as we pass them by. When we go away we have our eyes and ears open to soak up the sights and sounds of the city we visit, if we did a bit more of this at home we would be amazed at how many inspiring and undiscovered places are waiting for us to experience.”
We admit it, we are GUILTY as charged! To help the cause we’ve teamed with American Express to contribute to their digital map of inspiring spaces in London. You may remember our ‘Unlocking Your Secret London’ feature last month where we asked you guys for your places of inspiration that may often go unnoticed.
The map itself is easy to navigate and lives on Pintrest. Each pin is numbered to match a description and image, you simply zoom in to explore a region or borough of the places highlighted. You’ll see our recommendations on their along with some fellow bloggers. You just might want to take note of some of them when you’re next around that part of town.
