Things in Public Spaces that Make Me Smile

Posted on August 21, 2017


If you plan cities for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic. If you plan for people and places, you get people and places. – Fred Kent

Public space matters. We all know that. It’s our business! I’m heading on vacation to Stockholm and Prague, two of my favorite places for seeing “cool stuff in public space.” I promise to take pictures and report back. (also, the reason my Morning Buzz post is so lazy is because I’m packing)
So, here are some of my favorite things found in public spaces across the world. Let me know yours at #ELGLpublicspace
This area in San Francisco, California is one of my favorite places. Walk-in movies, a pop-up fitness hub, and shipping container businesses:

This billboard in Stockholm, Sweden coughs at smokers:

These Pac-man bike racks in Salem, Oregon make you smile (and if they don’t, I’m not interested):


 

This sign in Ørje, Norway makes people do the Monty Python Silly Walk:

 

If you sit on this bench in Bangkok, Thailand, you might not survive:


 

This crosswalk in Germany lets you play pong with a stranger:

 

This campaign in Lucerne, Switzerland (also includes a maze and other activities) helps motivate people to throw trash away in cans, not on the street:

This bench in Vancouver, Canada helps the homeless find housing:


 

This lamp post in Prague, Czech Republic is the only Cubist lamp post in the entire world:

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