"The Clean City Law came from a necessity to combat pollution . . . pollution of water, sound, air, and the visual. We decided that we should start combating pollution with the most conspicuous sector -- visual pollution."
Since then, billboards, outdoor video screens and ads on buses have been eliminated at breakneck speed. Even pamphleteering in public spaces has been made illegal, and strict new regulations have drastically reduced the allowable size of storefront signage. Nearly $8 million in fines were issued to cleanse São Paulo of the blight on its landscape.
(Via Beyond the Beyond.)
I like it. A lot of readers probably won't, citing economic imperatives. Personally, I don't want anything to do with an economic system that requires ubiquitous corporate graffiti. Do I really need to see another billboard for Taco Bell? Is that lurid LCD screen next to the highway enriching my life?
3 comments:
Hi Mac,
We had this debate in Toronto, Canada a few years back but to a lesser degree.
Our Mayor wanted to ban public pamphleteering and postering. The ban was quashed after the legendary urbanist, Jane Jacobs ( ("The Death and Life of Great American Cities") entered the debate. She wrote an essay in a local newspaper in which she argued that public pamphleteering and postering was an organic way for urban dwellers to communicate and extol living streets where children played, adults walked and shopped, and residential and commercial activities blended together. Everything from garage sales to underground theatre, to art showings and alternative music is now part of the visual landscape of this city….and I think we are the better for it.
As for large-scale corporate ads…I think I am more wary of a government that legislates aesthetics. Let the streets beat with the throb of a city’s people…
Living in a huge city rife with ugly billboards, I'd love to see them all gone.
"Even pamphleteering in public spaces has been made illegal"
If Sterling used the term "pamphleteering" as normally defined, and not including advertising posters glued to random walls, which is usually ugly, then there may be a legal problem.
Passing out pamphlets or flyers discussing or promoting things should not be illegal, as it's one of the earliest and primary forms of free speech available. I guess regulating signage can be construed as such also, but how to balance between that and visual pollution is in the eye of the beholder or store owner, I would guess, and more difficult to mediate.
Post a Comment