We often underestimate the power of streets and how the development or growth of an up and coming area can reshape the urban landscape. It may be a well-planned and executed feat, or a completely organic process, but when travelling back to a city you’ve been away from for a while, the first thing we usually ask ourselves is what’s the coolest street or best area to visit? It’s a simple and suggestive question that highlights the fact that cities are constantly evolving, often at different times and speeds.
We questioned several people about their thoughts on the next up and coming area of their respective cities. This is what they told us.
Simone Rizzo
Founder of SUNNEI
45.477298, 9.202460
Via Panfilo Castaldi, Milano
“This is the street where I would like to live at the moment. The Porta Venezia area has always been vibrant and filled with interesting spaces but it seems that the part around Panfilo Castaldi has something more to say. Projects like The Art Markets and restaurants like Bjork or Mantra Raw have found their proper place on this street.”
David Hellqvist
Fashion Director at Avaunt Magazine, Fashion Features Editor at Port Magazine and Publisher of Document Studios.
51.583239, -0.019875
Walthamstow and Leyton, London
“Gentrification seems to continue extending further and further outwards: Shoreditch, Hoxton, Hackney, Dalston. Now we’re all moving to Walthamstow and Leyton because we want bigger spaces for our families.“
Maurizio Donadi
L.A. based brand consultant and founder of Conduit Creative Office
34.083737, -118.333042
Melrose, Los Angeles
“Melrose is the new Melrose. Forget about Echo Park or Downtown L.A.
The new hip area is where the old hip area used to be.“
Oisin Orlandi
Art Director c/o L’Officiel
48.833877, 2.375466
13th Arrondissement, Paris
“Since I moved here about four years ago there’s been big buzz about the upcoming area of Pantin, a city just outside Paris in the North East outskirts.
After Chanel and Hermes moved their business there and BETC announced a big requalification project for spring 2016, and Thaddeus Ropac opened his second Parisian gallery there, it was baptized as the Brooklyn of Paris.
But if I had to move, Bibliotheque Nationale in the 13th arrondissement would be my new neighbour.
It’s a recent business district that feels like any other working area in the world, except that it’s on the river Seine. Architecturally speaking it’s the most beautiful mix between modern mirrored glass buildings and very large streets and stairways that run along the river just by the busy Asian part of the 13th district. During summer it transforms itself in a second Canal St. Martin with people sipping wine sitting on the docks. A typical dismissed case soon to develop its very own human side.“