Painted patterns turn ordinary sidewalks and other urban surfaces into geometric artworks, creating a level of creative interaction as well as domestic intimacy in public spaces.

European artist Ali (Arthur-Louis Ignoré) takes cues from ancient decorative rug design traditions as well natural and geometric forms from other ornamental sources.

Using simple white-on-gray, the drawings themselves can be simple at times, or playful. Their contrast with monotonous paving stones and asphalt brings dull areas to life with a bit of unconventional decor.

Some span entire alleys, streets or even rooftops, reaching up to 10,000 square feet in size, and spanning cities in France, Finland, Canada and the United States.

But while these larger works are impressive, there is something simple and subversive about sketching out, using simple lines and patterns, a little cozy place-making rug on a street for all to share.

Walkers preoccupied with their mobile devices as they traverse Augsburg, Germany, are starting to notice something new in their peripheral vision: sidewalk-embedded traffic lights designed to let them know when to stop and when to go.

The city, concerned about people looking down and ignoring traffic signals, decided to step in with this new invention. The design addresses both people who are at risk of walking out into active lanes, but also lets those standing and staring into their phones when they can safely walk again.

Currently, the city is testing these out in two prime trial locations where railroad tracks run roughly at the same level as sidewalks, making it easy for people to miss physical cues (like a change in pavement elevation) and where a vehicle is less likely to be able to stop in time (train versus car).

A survey conducted in Berlin and several other European countries revealed that nearly 20% of pedestrians (mostly younger people) missed the signal change because they were distracted by their phones. Whether the city should accommodate such behavior is, of course, another question entirely.

According to Stadtwerke Augsburg (translated), “The stubborn look at the smartphone can lead on the road to dangerous situations,” hence the decision “to enhance security for smartphone users.”

With all the focus on flying drones, grounded versions can fly under the radar, like the bot driving this latest business from the co-founders of Skype. Facilitating robotic deliveries in London, Starship Technologies aims to advance driverless automation in smaller steps, beating autonomous car companies to getting driver-free wheels on the ground in England.

The little driverless electric vehicles that will be making the rounds are six-wheeled rovers just over 20 inches tall and able to be packed with a sizable load of goods for short shipments.

Customers simply select items online, pick from delivery windows, then track progress on an app and tap on their logged-in device to open the lid when their shipment of stuff arrives.

Cruising at just four miles per hour, it remains to be seen how they will handle even sidewalk foot traffic, let alone road crossings. Its creators also presumably anticipate that a watchful public (and CCTV cameras) will help keep the little drones safe on their journeys. However, the bots can also directly relay distress signals to the police in an emergency or be remotely operated by human pilots as needed.

They also come with an antennae that both helps with wireless connectivity but also provides visibility beyond each drone’s natural height.

“Our vision revolves around three zeroes – zero cost, zero waiting time and zero environmental impact,” say the founders. “We want to do to local deliveries what Skype did to telecommunications.”

So far the robots have only been tested indoors (interoffice experiments), but the company aims to hit the streets (or at least sidewalks) next year.

It is in many ways an attempt to solve the ever-vexing ‘last mile’ problem: “The last few miles often amounts to the majority of the total delivery cost.”

“Our robots are purposely designed using the technologies made affordable by mobile phones and tablets – it’s fit for purpose, and allows for the cost savings to be passed on to the customer.”

An experimental pedestrian fast lane system deployed in England allows speedy walkers to circumvent gawking tourists and window shoppers.

Implemented by retailer Argos adjacent to a shopping complex in Liverpool, the Fast Track is a trial run (or: really fast walk) for separating dawdlers from power walkers.

If it seems like a marketing stunt, consider this: close to 30,000,000 Brits favor fast lanes for busy pedestrian thoroughfares. Close to a third surveyed in a recent study responded that they would approve of some consistent solution to slow-moving foot traffic.

As in similar attempts elsewhere, like NYC’s half-joking painted pavement markings dividing New Yorkers from Tourists, the aim is to provide clear paths for different paces, segregated by speed, cellphone use or other factors, indoors or outside.

This latest variant may only be temporary, but a store spokesperson says it is there by popular demand and if successful the same idea could continue to spread to other private and public spaces.

Putting you in the spotlight with a stranger, this installation in New York City is a perhaps-paradoxical commentary on both connection and isolation in urban environments.

Located at 7th Avenue and Carmine Street in Manhattan, Table for Two by Parisian native Shani Ha was designed to separate the participants with a window, yet by its placement and proximity makes simultaneously for intimately-shared moments.

Vicky Gan describes it as “part sculpture, part performance art, it challenges those who sit down to look up from their smartphones and into the eyes of a friend, a stranger, or their own reflections in the glass. A self-conscious homage to Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, the work realizes the age-old concept of the big, crowded city as a lonely, isolating place.”

Like any good piece of interactive art, the stories about its usage are what show it works – deaf people communicating in sign language across the glass in one case or a couple talking to each other (like in prison) on phones in another.

Technology, claims the artist, is responsible “making us more self-centered because [it gives] us the power to access only the people we decide to access,” whereas the intention in this piece is “to break the bridge between the outside and the inside, and allow a new form of interaction between people.”