Krumbach, Austria is figuring out the future of the bus stop (well, not really)

We all need to be riding buses more, and as such, we need cooler places to wait. But broadly, the bus stop hasn’t changed a lot in about five decades. Krumbach, Austria — which has a population of about 1,000 — decided to try and change this, going out and getting world-famous architects to design seven bus shelters. Here’s an example:

Bus1

Obviously this isn’t sustainable at this level — world-famous architects charge $$$, which cities by and large don’t have — but talk about a way to engage the civic population: have a contest challenging aspiring artists in your region to design a cool bus stop for under $500. The top 10 become 10 prominent bus stops. Suddenly, your city is re-branding! This could be our urban future.

Ted Bauer