OpenIDEO - How might we restore vibrancy in cities and regions facing economic decline? - Inspiration - Ugly everyday urban objects: Beautify and make them fun to look at!

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How might we restore vibrancy in cities and regions facing economic decline?

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Ugly everyday urban objects: Beautify and make them fun to look at!

Imagine an old and worn down electrical box on the street, or an ugly ordinary trash can. With a touch of creativity and art, they can look much more fun and contribute towards beautifying a city, as necessary urban features for the population.

Pretty trash can on a street (from Google)

Simple gestures that can make a big difference in how we view a place we visit or live in.

This inspiration aims to get us thinking of new ways to 'design' and create on top of existing day to day urban objects we come across. How ugly and banal can an electricity box or trash can on the street look to you? What if we made using the trash can even more fun, by making it beautiful, and not thinking of it as 'dirty' object.

The above photos of an electricity box in Stockholm were spotted and taken by me recently. They are located in one of the most central locations of the city, and they immediately stood out to me with its bold colors and child like illustrations. As Stockholm is quite reserved and strict regarding it's outdoor advertising (one of the main reasons it remains so beautiful and clean in my opinion) this box really stood out and actually made it a more beautiful site to look at, as I've seen so many black and grey ones, worn away by the weather.

Just a small inspiration but one that I feel can have a huge impact, if we design better, together :)

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Comments

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Szilvia Varga

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December 05, 2011, 10:50PM

Oh, the little things that make me love Stockholm! Though for some reason I always assumed they were giant mail boxes :)

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Johan Löfström's reply to Szilvia Varga's comment

Johan Löfström

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December 21, 2011, 11:58AM

you are right, the big rectangular yellow box above is for mail, morning newspapers, (probably not used anymore and abandoned)

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Sarah Fathallah

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November 29, 2011, 10:44PM

Ana this is a really great inspiration! Well spotted by the way! I really wonder how this can work in a city type of contest, where certain public facilities are open to local artists to decorate / repurpose / embellish. I think this could be a great idea!

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Ana Cecilia Santos's reply to Szilvia Varga's comment

Ana Cecilia Santos

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November 30, 2011, 12:51AM

Hello Sarah thanks for your energy, glad you liked this!
The perspective of a contest is very exciting. I'm sure that could be endorsed in various manners and would be a great way to crowd source our way into creating a more unified and vibrant community! Thanks for that super idea... :)

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Johan Löfström

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November 22, 2011, 11:09AM

Same kind of decoration on electrical boxes in Trollhättan, Sweden : http://www.panoramio.com/photo/62533765 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/62533816
(taken by me)

actually a utility company had a type of Open design challenge on getting local artists make colourful or humoristic decorations for the electrical boxes a while back in stockholm. Cannot find the info in english, so automated translation of "Elskåpskonst" :
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.fortum.se%2F2010%2F08%2F14%2Fstockholmarna-inbjuds-att-skapa-konst-pa-elskap%2F

((( more related texts about this project "Elskåpskonst" : http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.fortum.se%2F2010%2F08%2F14%2Fstockholmarna-inbjuds-att-skapa-konst-pa-elskap%2F )))

Result : a way to see locally made art outdoors on a good promenade : http://fortumkampanj.se/sub/elvandring/ (downloadable map as pdf, so you can print and take it with you on your art walk)

(But the box in photo above is actually for postal service or morning newspapers or something like that)

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Ana Cecilia Santos's reply to Szilvia Varga's comment

Ana Cecilia Santos

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November 22, 2011, 11:53AM

Johan I love the Fortum Kampanj, and I can imagine the impact it could have in other cities, needing a re-vamp and that have been worn down and in the need of re-construction. It's great to search for those digitally through a website too- that's a way to initiate a campaign in the physical world, and connect it to the online world too for the concepting phase! I really like the examples of the photos you took too, nice to see someone spotting similar things to me :)

Great example, thanks for sharing.

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Carly

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November 22, 2011, 12:30AM

This plays on the "mild positive effect", when things look prettier it puts you in a mildly more positive modd & can make you more productive. :-)

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Ana Cecilia Santos's reply to Szilvia Varga's comment

Ana Cecilia Santos

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November 22, 2011, 12:44AM

Hi Carly, exactly! It is a mild initiative, but it could really spark positivity and initiative a particular campaign to restore vibrancy in a worn down and dark area of a city/village. :)

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