About
It started with an idea about how a place feels, went outdoors for six years of fieldwork, and settled into a practice. districtXD gathers all three into one membership, for places that want to be experienced as well as managed.
Source research: Yog, A. (2026), “Impact of the Business Improvement District (BID) on Place Management in a Global City-State”, International Journal on Smart and Sustainable Cities.
The idea
It began as a question: could you read how a place feels — comfort, belonging, care — as steadily as a council reads footfall? The Conscious Cities Index became the instrument for asking it, and it still gives District Intelligence™ its base.
The fieldwork
The question went outdoors. Six years of sitting, watching and measuring in public space — stillness as a method — showed how much of a street's value lives in how people feel while they are in it.
The practice
The work grew into a practice. XDG Labs turns experience design into something a district can commission, and its research named the Experience Improvement District. districtXD is the network XDG Labs convenes to share it.
Backstory & roadmap · 2020–2030
Six years of fieldwork behind us, and a clear line forward — from a question about public space to a standard districts are measured by.
2020
The Conscious Cities Index begins as a question: what makes a place worth being in, and what does that return to the people who run it?
2022
The Big Sit and A Silent Revolution take the question into real streets, with evidence gathered where people actually stand.
2024
XDG Labs forms around the work, and experience design becomes a discipline districts can commission.
2026 · NOW
districtXD opens, and the first conversations with districts begin.
2027
Founding Districts at work: the charter written by the cohort, Framework v1, and the first Index pilots.
2029–30
Recognition matures into a standard districts are measured by, held by a global commons of practice.
The first cohort
We are opening conversations with a small number of cities and towns ready to design for how their district feels — and to shape what District Intelligence becomes.
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