About the Book
An Adam Grant Summer Reading Pick 2024
Do we still need physical places like grocery stores, restaurants, and office buildings? Or will the “Replacement Economy” led by the tech titans and retail giants wipe out these venues in their rapid ascent to unicorn status?
What about museums, universities, and performing arts venues? Considering the power of technology today, can’t we replace these relics with faster, cheaper, and more efficient online tools, apps, and AI?
Through engaging storytelling, human behavior insights, and proven design techniques, Kevin Kelley—an attention architect and cofounder of Shook Kelley, a strategic design firm that pioneered the field of “convening”—unfolds why physical places are essential to civil society, business, and community.
In these pages, he reveals what it takes for brick-and-mortar establishments to attract an audience and maintain a competitive edge in our increasingly digital world, whether you’re a:
Retail leader or institutional manager trying to attract people to your offering while keeping the disruptors at bay
Student of design who values social facilitation over object-oriented design
Concerned citizen worried about the loss of community and civility
Irreplaceable offers a welcomed antidote to the anti-human digital future crushing our main streets and infiltrating every corner of our lives. It provides a comprehensive roadmap for creating human experiences that have the power to convene and bring friends, neighbors, and strangers together in prosocial environments in ways the digital replacements can’t replicate.
About the Author :
Kevin Ervin Kelley, AIA, is an award-winning Architect, Experience Designer, and Cofounder of the bi-coastal strategic design firm Shook Kelley. As a lifelong advocate of bringing people together in prosocial settings, Kevin’s expertise is in studying how the environment of a place affects our behavior, perception, and decision-making. Since opening their firm’s doors in 1992, he has worked with executive leadership teams for some of the world’s most well-known brands, such as Harley-Davidson, Whole Foods Market, Kraft, The J.M. Smucker Company, The Cleveland Orchestra, professional sports teams, universities, urban districts, and hundreds of local and regional businesses to stay relevant and profitable in our rapidly changing modern landscape.
In addition to being a frequent speaker at retail, food, and other consumer conferences in the US and abroad, Kevin has taught courses at Harvard University and his alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Review :
"""Award-winning architect Kevin Ervin Kelley presents a book that is an antidote to the anti-human digital future, offering a compelling vision for creating spaces that truly bring us together . . . With real-life examples and practical recommendations, Irreplaceable is a call to action to foster cultures of belonging.""
—Financial Times
""Architecture in the 21st century is finally being answerable to people, not edifice creation. Kevin Kelley has been one of the pioneers . . . His contribution to the humanization of modern design has been critically important. This book is long overdue.""
—Paco Underhill, Founder, Envirosell Inc., and Author, Why We Buy, What Women Want, Call of the Mall, and How We Eat
""Irreplaceable is a triumph! Both a badly needed manifesto on why physical place matters now more than ever in our lives and a how-to manual for building a physical environment that fosters true community.""
—Benjamin Lorr, Author, The Secret Life of Groceries
""In an age of remote work and social isolation, having a meaningful place to connect is so important. In Irreplaceable, Kevin Kelley pulls back the curtain on how to reimagine and create places that help us thrive together.""
—Richard Smucker, Chairman Emeritus, The J.M. Smucker Company
""Kevin Kelley's goal as an architect is to make common places feel special. We all convene in stores, restaurants, gyms, museums, movie theaters, and airports, but too often, the experience is physically and mentally draining. It doesn't have to be—read Irreplaceable.""
—Philip Kotler, S.C. Johnson Distinguished Professor of International Marketing, emeritus, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and Author, Marketing 4.0
""Kevin Kelley has an electrifying vision for the future of public space, and Irreplaceable is a must-read blueprint for anyone in the business of bringing folks together in real life. An entertaining, fascinating, and deeply informed master class on the art of persuading people to gather physically—one that makes a passionate case for human-oriented places in our increasingly digitized world.""
—Joe Fassler, Author, Light the Dark, and former Atlantic Columnist "
