After the AI hype, people want places they can trust

For years, the language of placemaking has been dominated by intelligence: seamless journeys, frictionless experiences, and data-driven optimisation. Technology promised to make places work harder, faster and more efficiently for the people moving through them.

But in 2026, the places that feel most magnetic are heading in the opposite direction.

Across destination-led neighbourhoods and cultural hubs, the strongest signal isn’t smarter systems, it’s emotionally intelligent experiences. Places that prioritise participation over automation. Presence over optimisation. Feeling over function.

This isn’t a rejection of technology. It’s a recalibration of what people want from places.

Multiple 2026 trend reports point to a growing weariness with experiences that feel over-engineered and under-explained. Forrester describes a “CX reckoning”, where invisible systems and performative personalisation erode trust rather than build it (Forrester, B2C Marketing, CX & Digital Predictions 2026). Ipsos situates this within a wider emotional context: declining optimism, heightened scepticism and a sense that systems increasingly work on people, rather than with them (Ipsos, Global Trends: The Uneasy Decade, 2025).

In physical places, this fatigue is amplified. When automation shapes access, pricing, movement, programming or content in public space, it doesn’t feel neutral, it feels intentional. And people are becoming far more attuned to intent.

That’s why some of the most successful destination brands are quietly shifting away from over-optimised experiences. Instead of pushing app-led journeys or frictionless everything, they’re investing in clear moments of arrival, visible hosts, and cues that help people orient themselves emotionally as well as physically.

HAVAS Red’s A New Lens on Brand Experience 2026 shows that fandom-led, culture-first activations succeed when brands behave like hosts rather than operators. This Barbie Café pop-up worked not because of advanced tech, but because it allowed people to step into a shared world, defined by ritual, nostalgia, and collective presence.

We see similar patterns emerging in destination placemaking. Seasonal cultural programmes that invite people to watch, make or gather. Temporary uses that prioritise curiosity over conversion. Experiences like performances, installations and markets that feel slightly unfinished, live and human.

In these places, success isn’t measured by dwell time optimisation or perfectly smoothed journeys, but by return visits, word-of-mouth and a sense that “something is always happening here”.

Dentsu frames this as the power of “shared memories” – experiences that matter because they’re shaped live, socially and imperfectly, rather than curated by algorithms (Dentsu, Human Truths in the Algorithmic Era 2026).

Forrester predicts that a third of consumers will actively choose offline brand experiences in 2026, seeking authenticity, tactility and emotional resonance. Hospitality research echoes this, with Hilton identifying a growing desire for calm, restorative environments that prioritise atmosphere over novelty (Hilton, 2026 Trends Report).

This helps explain why many destinations are now doubling down on craft, culture, heritage and human scale.

For places like established London streets, cultural hubs and neighbourhoods, the opportunity isn’t to do more, it’s to mean more. The smartest placemaking strategies in 2026 are not about removing friction entirely, but about choosing it carefully.

In a world where intelligence is ambient and invisible, emotional trust has become the real differentiator, and the places that will thrive are those that understand this. Not by feeling less sophisticated, but by feeling unmistakably human.

Sources: Forrester B2C Marketing, CX & Digital Predictions 2026; Ipsos Global Trends: The Uneasy Decade (2025); HAVAS Red A New Lens on Brand Experience 2026; Dentsu Human Truths in the Algorithmic Era 2026; Hilton 2026 Trends Report.