Urban Planet is a daily roundup of blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.
This 10 minute documentary explores São Paulo’s experiences in banning outdoor advertising and the political maneuvers that led to the implementation and evolution of its Clean City law.
Video from pansouthproductions
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One comment
Compelling video. “Protect yourself from what you’re going to want” is indeed a killer line against the creep of pubic advertising.
But the Sao Paulo total ban is an example of the pendulum swinging too far in the other direction. We need to accept public ad space done acceptably as a necessary income stream for municipalites and find the equilibrium where programs like our InfoToGo Pillars (see post below) are not dangerously cluttering the public realm.
I don’t begrudge advertisers for wanting to make a buck on our streets, or the city for auctionning off some public space to the highest bidder, but I do expect protection from terrible and hazardous design through professional review and public consultation. If that process had been respected with Astral, we wouldn’t be faced with the challenge of trying to clawiback the infopillars now.