Designing our environments
Nothing screams “rubbish day” like row upon row of bleak grey bin bags piled along the curb. But what if we could take those boring (and let’s face it, depressing) bin liners and create art from waste, at least until the rubbish collection truck finally makes its way to the front gates or sidewalks?
Well the people of Auckland have done just that with their “Beautify Your City” campaign which aims to prevent the illegal dumping of rubbish in city flowerbeds, as well as making the rubbish placed on sidewalks impressively “disappear” before our eyes. The result of this campaign turned ugly sidewalk displays like this:
…into beautifully hedged CBD pathways and gardens like these:
So as we move towards a more environmentally friendly world, where recycling is encouraged more frequently, it’s nice to see even our unrecyclable waste can be beautified and reused, if only for a short time.
The only question I have now is when will they be coming to Australia so I can stop taking out the rubbish (which is a personal hate chore of mine) and start designing my environment?
Yours in urban design,
Sheri
