“Imagine a modern metropolis with no outdoor advertising: no billboards, no flashing neon signs, no electronic panels with messages crawling along the bottom.
Sao Paulo, a city of 11 million, overwhelmed by what the authorities call visual pollution, has planned to press the "delete all" button and offer its residents unimpeded views of their surroundings.”
Now, the city has put the rule into effect as this photo illustrates
More such photos on Flickr
I really wish we could implement this idea in our cities here. I am not saying that the hoardings should be banned. After all, the wheel of commerce needs to keep spinning and advertising is an integral part of this activity. Thousands of people are gainfully employed and all that. But, it would be nice if we could start all over again after introducing some basic rules on the dimensions and the overall aesthetics.
5 comments:
Did they do that really....feels very "Utopian"...seeing all these pictures...not that i belong to that nation...but somehow...as you said the city's become very easy on the eyes...
Chennai can take a cue from that at some hot-spots...many a motorist have spilled their headlights on the road after watching the cute lasses...albeit 10 ft above...!!
One cant remain attached to the past forever. I believe we need some of these glittery addendum for modern cities. But there are places which would be better off without these distractions, namely the airport stretch of the GST Road (many pilots have complained that they are distracted by them while landing), along the beach (where turtle hatchlings get attracted by the lights and stray onto the road instead of going to the waters). Instead of imposing a carpet ban on it, we can rather identify places where these are harmful and prohibit them locally.
Hey what a nice thought. The city may wear a new look. Come on how many of us read the hoardings and make our buying decisions. Half the time I don't even know what they are advertising - and particularly in chennai what will MOunt Raod look like deviod of the film hoardings?
Ogden Nash paraphrasing
Joyce Kilmer's poem on trees:
I think that I shall never see
A billboard lovely as a tree.
Indeed, unless the billboards fall
I'll never see a tree at all
obelix, true, billboards can become killboards at times.
santhosh, I didn't call for a ban, but to bring down the entire lot and start all over again ,with well-defined rules.
usha, Mount Road without hoardings. You'll be able to see the sky for a change.
dipali, that was a nice one.
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