Los Angeles: Atwater Village
Just north of hipster central Silver Lake, there's a rising crop of slow-food restaurants, high-end bakeries, and organic grocers in one of the few L.A. neighborhoods where you can actually walk to a farmer's market. See where to eat, shop, drink, and stay.
Chicago: New West Loop
This once-gritty neighborhood west of the Kennedy Expressway is now a hot destination for foodies and social-media types in Chuck Taylors. See where to eat, shop, drink, and stay.
New York City: Far West Chelsea
Last summer's extension of the High Line park brought a new crowd to this warehouse-studded pocket of the west side where galleries have replaced auto shops and passé nightclubs. Nowhere is the transformation more evident than an empty lot on 30th Street and Tenth Avenue, which hosts gourmet food trucks and synthetic-ice skating rinks in the summer. See where to eat, shop, drink, and stay.
London: London Fields
One of the last spots to benefit from the East End's ongoing gentrification, this cool and colorful area retains much of its bustle—rowdy sellers with Cockney accents bump shoulders with design-industry locals and fashion students hosting barbecues in the expansive park, the neighborhood's loveliest patch of green. See where to eat, shop, drink, and stay.
Paris: Canal Saint-Martin
In less than five years, this canal-hugging section of the 10th arron­dissement has gone from dangereuse to downright hip. On weekends rakishly chic youngsters sit along the stone wall lining the waterfront, sipping Burgundy in plastic glasses and forming an impromptu fashion preview. See where to eat, shop, drink, and stay.
Moscow: Red October
If mainland Moscow seems bereft of slim-hipped artists and girls sporting bleached-blonde Biebers, it's because they're hitting the cafés, galleries, and clubs on Bolotny Island, the former home of the Red October Chocolate Factory, the building complex that houses most of these new hot spots and gives the area its unofficial name. See where to eat, shop, drink, and stay.