Stop & Smell the Cucumbers, Bus-Stop Style 🚍🌹

What a truly weird time to be alive. We’ve got whales in Times Square, billionaires going into space for joyrides, a creative placemaking structure now associated with suicide, and a new pad park built atop the remnants of a Cunard Line pier. The British are pushing posies and cukes into their public transport, and biometrics are paving the way for smart city planning. You may soon pay $3 per Amazon package to fund public transport, or walk through the first-ever historic district paying homage to Chicanos in Colorado. We’ve rounded up some sensational stories to feed your need for informative news, and wish you a very merry August. We’re nearly halfway through astronomical summer here in the northern hemisphere (August 7), and it’s gettin’ hot in here, peeps!

– Your Bright Brothers Team

Wanna make big waves in your district? Literally?!? We’ve seen some visually stunning video presentations to activate districts and vacant storefronts recently. North America’s largest (and most expensive) billboard is a 125,000 square foot screen that exploded with crashing waves and sea life this summer as seen here. The 350 foot tall behemoth towered over Times Square and ran through the beginning of this month. On a smaller scale, but equally as entrancing, this visually-stunning vitrine at a Zara shop in Manhattan was activated by Shanef3d – a NYC based 3D artist who explores abstract and experiential design. We’ve seen plenty of districts do cool things to activate unused storefronts and ground-level space, but these types of interactive pieces really take the cake! How is your district making a splash this summer?

Photo credit: d’strict

When you think of love, you may imagine roses, which are one of the flowers most commonly associated with the amorous sensation. You probably don’t associate love with public bus shelters, let alone any enjoyable odor. And yet, in an uncanny twist of experiential placemaking, those uncanny Brits have launched an olfactory-compelling reason to take public transportation! Hendrick’s Gin is behind an interesting intervention of the senses, by outfitting bus shelters in five sizeable English cities with a “living roof” consisting of cucumbers and roses, while an infused scent of both plants wafts floridly among passersby. The sensory marketing stunt is nothing new, as previous attempts by Pepsi and milk producers left unknowing participants with a bad taste (erm, smell) and some public pushback. We’re curious to see (or smell, as it were), what this campaign produces in terms of results, but at the end of the day we hope everything’s coming up – aha, yeah – roses.

Photo credit: Colin Maynard, Unsplash 

Researchers at UPenn are using biometric data to inform city planning that offers safer alternatives. Unfortunately, many transportation systems are designed reactively, based on crash and fatality data – meaning someone has to get hurt before change happens. For instance, “…federal rules for installing safe transportation interventions at an unsafe crossing—such as a crosswalk with a traffic signal—require either a minimum of 90-100 pedestrians crossing this location every hour or a minimum of five pedestrians struck by a driver at that location in one year,”.  The research team at Penn asked cyclists to wear biometric gear including eye-tracking glasses equipped with inward- and outward-facing cameras and a gyroscope capable of collecting eye- and head-movement data 100 times per second. What they learned is that city planners could proactively deploy individual-level data to identify locations where a traffic intervention might be useful, before anyone is hit by a car. Lead researcher Megan Ryerson is quoted as stating, “The COVID-19 pandemic encouraged so many of us to walk and bike for commuting and recreation. Sadly, it also brought an increase in crashes. We must proactively design safer streets and not wait to count more crashes and deaths. We can use the way people feel as they move through the city as a way to design safer transportation systems,” and we have to agree with her biometrically-driven assessment.

Photo credit: Arteum Ro, Unsplash

In response to rapid gentrification and “…a nod and acknowledgment to all of that history that came with this neighborhood…,”Denver, CO is in the final stages of creating the country’s first historic district honoring the Chicano movement. The district would provide more rigorous protection for nearly 200 structures including single-family and bungalow-style homes, community buildings and historic murals within the district boundaries. La Alma Lincoln Park Historic Cultural District would be the first historic district in the country created to honor of the Chicano movement. The Denver Landmark Preservation Commission unanimously voted in July to advance the proposal and a final decision should be made this month, when the Denver City Council votes on the creation of the district. We wish them the best of luck!

Photo credit: Oscar Perry Abello

Many could argue that New York City is the center of the Universe…well, the planet perhaps. As a locus of trendsetting, innovation and some outstanding placemaking, we’ve collated several stimulating stories coming out of the “City So Nice They Named it Twice”. Opening to much fanfare merely two years ago, the Hudson Yard’s now-infamous, 150 foot, climbable “Vessel” structure may close permanently after its fourth suicide. Conversely a new public space and performance venue called “Little Island” at Pier 54 is making waves as it revitalizes nearly three acres of Hudson River Park. The awe-inspiring, visually-undulating pad park built on pilings is the brainchild and partial ($260 million) gift of the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation, that is intended to “…create an immersive experience with nature and art,”. Additionally, New York City is thinking inside the box with a proposed $3 per package tax that could fund MTA infrastructure.  And for the first time in history, NYC now has a real estate registry of its 70,202 storefronts that offers the promise of leveling the playing field for small businesses looking to escape outlandish rents, and find homes in the nearly 10,000 vacant units citywide. What’s your favorite way to take a bite outta the Big Apple?

Photo credit: John Angel, Unsplash