How can an airport & a distracted boyfriend help save the planet?

THE POWER OF MEMETIC ENGINEERING:

Memes aren't just viral content - they shape entire industries, consumer behaviour, and business strategy. Destinations do the same.

They don’t just attract people - they spread ideas and expectations, shaping lasting cultural change.

Singapore’s Jewel Changi (pictured above) by Safdie Architects, is more than just an airport expansion - it's redefining what a transport hub can be. By blurring the lines between transit, nature, and experience, it’s not just attracting visitors; it’s setting a new benchmark for experiential placemaking.

A classic example of what we think of as a meme is the Distracted Boyfriend - a stock photo that quickly rose above its outdated, stereotypical dynamics (below right). Through countless iterations, it became a viral metaphor for temptation, shifting priorities, and misplaced attention.

But the origin of memes runs much deeper. Perhaps surprisingly, the term was coined nearly 50 years ago by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins to describe how ideas spread and evolve. Just like genes (below left), some memes fade as fleeting entertainment, while others adapt - reshaping behaviours, industries, and entire cultural norms.

Above: Genes - How biology evolves
Above Right: Memes - How culture evolves (Image credit Shutterstock/Antonio Guillem)

While the concept of memetics gained academic attention in the 1990s, its true influence has only grown. Now, with the rise of viral content, AI-generated media, and rapid cultural shifts, the ability to seed and spread powerful narratives is more critical than ever.

MEMETICS MISUSED: SELLING ILLUSIONS

Memetics has been shaping public perception for decades - often in ways we don’t even notice - whether through policy shifts, or more subtle influences in advertising, media, and entertainment. Today, many of the most pervasive memes aren’t just cultural symbols - they’re commercial tools, designed to sell ideas and products. Advertising, for example, often embeds ideas into culture by selling aspirations rather than reality:

Perfume ads don’t sell fragrance; they sell the illusion of romance.
Luxury watches don’t sell better timekeeping; they sell status.

A more systemic example? The automotive industry’s invention of "jaywalking." In 1920s America, pedestrian deaths were rising dramatically - see below New York Times 1924 front page depicting 'death' driving over dozens of bodies. But rather than rethinking streets, car manufacturers ran a PR campaign that reframed pedestrians as the problem. The word jaywalker was memetic engineering in action: through media, laws, and urban design, it embedded the idea that streets belong to cars, not people - a mindset we are still undoing today.

Above: New York Times, November 23, 1924. Public Domain

MEMETICS FOR POSITIVE CHANGE

On the flip side, memetics can drive massive societal improvements:

Anti-smoking campaigns used storytelling and policy to shift smoking from "glamorous" to "socially unacceptable."
Greenpeace’s anti-whaling visuals transformed whales from "resources" into beloved creatures worth protecting, helping to secure the 1986 whaling moratorium.

Memetics alone aren’t enough - but when combined with systemic action, they create powerful, lasting cultural shifts.

MEMETICS IN LBE: RISKS & OPPORTUNITIES

These examples show how memetics can reframe entire industries and public perceptions. Destinations and Location Based Entertainment (LBE) spaces operate in the much the same way - embedding ideas into public consciousness, whether intentionally or not.

This influence can be positive, reinforcing sustainability, inclusivity, and engagement. But when destinations rely on outdated narratives, they risk embedding stereotypes rather than inspiring change.

NEGATIVES: PERPETUATING STEROTYPES

LBE has a history of reducing cultures to oversimplified tropes.

“Tiki bars” commercialise Polynesian culture without depth or respect.
Generic “world culture” zones reinforce shallow, exoticized portrayals instead of meaningful representation.

These memes survive because they’re easy, familiar, and unchallenged - but they reinforce outdated narratives rather than inspire new ones.

POSITIVES: DESTINATIONS AS 'MEME FACTORIES' FOR GOOD

Like genes, some memes succeed because they benefit their hosts, reinforcing useful behaviours. Others, as we've seen above, behave more like viruses - replicating rapidly, even when they offer no real value. In Destination Design, this distinction matters: the most successful places don’t just entertain - they reshape how we see the world. Are we embedding ideas that improve experience and behaviour, or just fuelling empty spectacle?

Executed well, destinations have the power to create new cultural memes - embedding inclusivity, sustainability, and regeneration into the mainstream.

Singapore’s Jewel Changi and Gardens by the Bay (pictured below) are clear examples of destinations that reshape expectations. These projects aren’t just urban infrastructure - they’re cultural signals, shaping how we think about the relationship between cities and nature.

What began as a bold experiment with Gardens by the Bay - turning a city’s skyline into a living ecosystem - evolved into a new kind of airport experience, embedding biophilic design into one of the world’s busiest transport hubs.

This memetic evolution shows how destinations create self-reinforcing expectations - once visitors experience a green city, anything less starts to feel outdated.

Above: The Jewel Changi, Safdie Architects
Above Right: Gardens by the Bay, Wilkinson Eyre & Grant Associates

But airports carry an inherent contradiction. While they can be showcases of cutting-edge design, their business model depends on the most polluting form of mass transport ever invented. Yet they aren’t disappearing. While sustainable aviation fuels and alternative transport solutions evolve, airports themselves have another role to play: shaping expectations for the future.

Just as Scope 3 emissions account for a company’s wider impact, a destination’s influence extends beyond its physical carbon footprint. When designed with intention, airports can embed new cultural norms, demonstrating sustainability not as a technical fix but as an experience that shapes future urban landscapes.

This challenge isn’t unique to airports - many destinations have built their success on high-carbon infrastructure. But their greatest power lies not just in reducing impact, but in rethinking the expectations they set and the transformations they enable through their high visitor numbers.

Take car-free districts. A generation ago, pedestrianized zones were seen as an inconvenience - something restrictive rather than desirable. Today, places like Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Barcelona’s Superblocks aren’t just urban planning choices; they are attractions in their own right. People visit them not because they have to, but because they want to experience vibrant, human-centred cities.
The same shift has happened with plant-based dining. Once seen as a sacrifice, eating less meat has evolved into an aspirational lifestyle choice. Cities like London, Berlin, and Los Angeles are now recognized as global plant-based dining hubs - not because of regulation, but because demand has been reshaped by changing consumer expectations. The best plant-based restaurants don’t sell restriction; they sell creativity, indulgence, and a premium dining experience.

These shifts didn’t happen overnight - they happened because of memetics. When people experience a car-free city, a thriving plant-based dining scene, or a nature-integrated airport, they carry those ideas back with them.

This is where memetics meets the Transformation Economy. Destinations that embed sustainability as an experience, not just a feature, shape expectations far beyond their physical footprint. A regenerative future isn’t just built - it’s imagined, embedded, and normalised through the places people visit.

Of course, perception alone isn’t enough - real change requires both influence and action. But the most powerful destinations do both, embedding sustainability into experience while setting new expectations for what’s possible.

CONCLUSION: CAN WE MEME OUR WAY TO A REGENERATIVE FUTURE?

Memetics isn’t just about cultural shifts - it’s about shaping a future where destinations create more value than they extract.

The most successful destinations, attractions, and LBE venues aren’t just entertaining visitors. They are expanding possibilities, redefining what people expect from public space, travel, and shared experiences.

Car-free districts aren’t about restrictions - they create more liveable, vibrant, and economically thriving cities.
Sustainable placemaking isn’t about sacrifice - it’s about regeneration, designing places that give back more than they take.
Integrating nature into high-density environments isn’t a trend - it’s a fundamental shift toward human-centred urbanism.

Memetics works because people don’t just visit places - they take ideas home with them.

When destinations lead with possibility, not just profitability, they move beyond a zero-sum mindset - proving that the best places don’t just succeed for themselves; they raise the bar for everyone.

Memetics is already shaping the future. The question is: will we lead, or follow?

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