In October last year we wrote an article that questioned the amount of (random) poles, street signs and furniture cluttering the streets of Dublin. What we didn’t touch upon was another form of “visual pollution” bombarding our senses on a daily basis that is so intertwined with the city’s architecture that it is widely accepted as integral part of public space: advertising.
São Paulo was the first city worldwide to have banned advertising from the public sphere. In 2007 alone 15,000 billboards and 300,000 oversized store front signs were removed. Instead of navigating through streets cluttered with sales messages, one can now perceive the city through architecture. As many taxi drivers and couriers reported, this has diminished the stress of people on the streets immensely. The Paulistas’ pioneering “Clean City Law” started a global movement. Grenoble in France was the first European city to un-brand itself. In 2014 the municipality replaced all its billboards with so-called “areas for public expression”, a clear message against privatisation of public space. Other cities like Paris and Tehran have trialled the concept temporarily, replacing advertising billboards with art, while Düsseldorf newly built Wehrhahn metro line commissioned art installations rather than advertisements on its miles of wall-space.
What if Dublin toughened its rules for advertising too? Would architecture stand out more? Would we have a more attractive or a duller city? To what extent should public space be branded? Is visual pollution a small price to pay when ads help to fund city infrastructure?
The excellent Dublin Bike Scheme is part-funded by advertising company JC Decaux and its Coke Zero branding, but its development has stalled at phase three of 14, while plans to erect new advertising panels around Dublin 4 as part of this scheme have been branded as “contemptible” and “grossly offensive” by An Taisce’s heritage officer Ian Lumley. Revenue streams of advertising in the city are unclear but one thing is for sure: untangling the public sphere from private interests is a difficult mission. Even São Paulo, five years after its radical agenda came into effect, has gradually reintroduced advertising again, this time more methodically integrated into the city’s infrastructure and street furniture.
Have you seen something abroad that Dublin can learn from? Do you have a great idea of how to improve our fair city? Send us your vision via @what_if_Dublin on Twitter or whatifdublin@gmail.com and your idea could be published here next month.
Words & Images: What If Dublin Team
