The city of George Town, in ###### Malaysian state of Penang, has long ###### tourists to its streets, where sherbet-colored ######, intricately tiled courtyards and historic temples ###### mosques prove irresistible photo fodder. But ###### recent years something else has been ###### camera-toting travelers: dozens of street art ###### that practically beg to become selfie ###### on Instagram.

On a recent trip ###### Penang, a short flight from my ###### in Hong Kong, I watched young ###### patiently line up on a sidewalk ###### George Town's historic Armenian Street.]]>
And then, presumably, they'd upload ###### to Instagram.]]>
Penang is ###### of a number of cities capitalizing ###### the wild popularity of photo-based social ###### apps such as Instagram, which has ###### million users (that's more than a ###### of the world's population). It's part ###### a wider phenomenon of public and ###### spaces being designed to appeal to ###### of such apps.]]>
###### have been at the forefront of ######. Since social- media mentions can make ###### break a restaurant's success, owners have ###### attuned to what visual aspects of ###### and décor appeal to customers.]]>
###### stores have the same incentives to ###### their spaces and products on social ######. They're encouraging picture-taking with whimsical furniture ###### cut-out clothing silhouettes designed for visitors ###### stand in and snap photos. In ###### era where some say social media ###### killing traditional retail, they're doing what ###### can to harness its power.]]>
Moyal, the designer behind ###### of New York's most-Instagrammed restaurants, says ###### have been paying attention to how ###### will look on social media for ###### years. But it's ramped up "very ######" over the past year or so, ###### says.

"Whether menu design or choice ###### light fixtures or tableware, people are ###### trying harder than they ever have ###### they realize it's making a very ###### difference," Moyal says.]]>
"@@'@ impossible to prevent (photo-taking) so why ###### get with the program and the ###### century and allow it as much ###### you can?" says Nora Atkinson, the ###### Herman Curator of Craft at the ###### Gallery.

Atkinson says she and many ###### curators do worry that museumgoers deny ###### a deeper experience of the art ###### only experiencing it with a phone ###### front of their faces, and often ###### to think of ways to bring ###### better balance.]]>
Perhaps the apotheosis of Instagramization ###### an entirely new category of cultural ######, the made-for-Instagram "experience." The best-known example ###### San Francisco's The Museum of Ice ###### (#museumoficecream, 93,000+ posts), a series of ###### that basically functions as photo sets: ###### pool filled with rainbow sprinkles (they're ######), a white unicorn you can sit ######, a ceiling hung with pink bananas. ###### "museum" has been wildly popular, with ###### runs selling out in 90 minutes. ###### digital media company Refinery 29 has ###### a pop-up installation called 29Rooms (#29rooms, ######+ posts) for several years, featuring spaces ###### for picture-taking and sharing: a giant ###### you can walk on, a snow ###### you can sit inside, neon signs ###### 'grammably inspirational sayings like "care no ###### what" and "a well-made choice can ###### beautiful." In Asia, so-called "trick eye ######" of trompe l'oeil paintings intended as ###### backdrops exist in cities large and ######.]]>
###### I talk to Patrick Janelle, he's ###### gotten back from a trip to ###### Museum of Ice Cream. Janelle is ###### ordinary Instagrammer. He has 460,000 followers.]]>
These days, everything is experienced ######, Janelle says -- first in real ######, and second when we share it ###### social media.

"So even if something @@@'@ designed especially for social media, I ###### there's always an emphasis on ‘how ###### this render digitally?'" he says.]]>
Moyal ###### she and her team frequently see ###### near their studio in Bushwick, a ######, New York, neighborhood not traditionally considered ###### tourist draw. Many of them are ###### to photograph the neighborhood's colorful graffiti (#######, 4,700+ posts).

"I don't think the ###### is made for that purpose," she ######.]]>
Michiel de Lange, a ###### of new media studies at Utrecht ###### in the Netherlands, says many cities ###### trying to brand themselves via visual ######. One increasingly popular strategy is so-called "###### urbanism," where a city turns empty ###### into temporary beer gardens or makes ###### busy street into a pedestrian playground ###### a weekend. Such events are often ###### Instagramable.]]>
But some say the Instagramization of ###### world is leading to a troubling ######. Writing in The Guardian, art and ###### writer Kyle Chayka suggests social media ###### spreading a generic hipster aesthetic across ###### globe. You can travel from London ###### Los Angeles to Hong Kong and ###### coffee shops, hotels and offices with ###### same Instagram-friendly reclaimed wood, industrial lighting, ###### walls and "pops" of color.]]>
###### there's the idea that social media ###### you in a bubble–you see where ###### like you are going, what they're ######, what they're liking, via Instagram or ######, then do the same yourself. As ###### Lange points out, this is antithetical ###### the values of urban theorists like ###### Jacobs, who posited that one of ###### city's greatest purposes was to bring ###### groups of strangers together.

Then, of ######, there's the belief that viewing the ###### through your phone's camera is an ###### way to live.]]>
Janelle, as ###### an Instagram booster as they come, ###### think there's value in not always ###### to snap a picture. He's the ###### of the Spring St. Social Society, ###### creates pop-up events around New York ###### Los Angeles, throwing dinner parties in ###### subway stations and putting on secret ######.]]>
"Ultimately what we want ###### really wonderful experiences," Janelle says. "And ###### we want to be able to ###### them on social media, but we ###### crave things that are just really ###### and special in real life."]]>