We have previously stated that it takes passion to make good design. That design is only noticeable when it fails. And that it is our actions what defines us.
[translation: towards a city order. Less billboards, more spaced, one standard size.]
So that makes three things wrong with this picture. If someone is willing to spend their time and money to take care of billboards, he was definitely only doing as he was told. And if you are so sure that this will work, you would not start by making it visible. And third, what do you think of a city when instead of taking care of basic needs [and i am not even talking about infrastructure], they are willing to pay people to go through all the trouble of taking an action that only makes noise. And the worst part, all this energy is consumed after already spending twice as much time and money on trying to take down every single billboard. They apparently don't understand that if there are too many ads, we no longer notice them. Their action only makes ads more expensive to rent and more useful at reaching an audience... They do become disturbing, and families whose income depends on the rent of ad space are screwed [and will probably end up selling their home to a developer].
Here are some proposals for urban design that would not only be free and cost a lot less energy, but actually make you earn something... and not destroy families whose income depends on renting the add space.
- Charge a tax per square meter of ad
- Allow only corporations that work hand in hand with the city to advertise
- Only buildings that truly have an urban improvement strategy, or belong to a certain social group, are allowed to display them.
- Devise a tactic that allows the billboard to pay the rent for social housing, and the owner hold a little profit.
- Make social housing free by allowing billboards [in a designed billboard space] only in social housing developments. Since they would be run in part by the city, we can all expect hope they hold a decent urban strategy.
- Reward creative billboard design... Perhaps it is the template what is really disturbing. If the building has a designed ad space, things would be very different... Then your city does look clean, or at least with a touch of design.
The city needs leaders that can go out of the box, instead of followers who implement whatever they are told, even if it has failed for years.
HAVE FUN!!!
