In Grenoble, trees replace billboards
Environment — di Rudi Bressa
A landmark decision by the mayor of Grenoble, in France. 50 new trees planted in place of advertising. The mayor: “An ecological and ethical choice”.
In Grenoble, trees replace billboards
A landmark decision by the mayor of Grenoble, in France. 50 new trees planted in place of advertising. The mayor: “An ecological and ethical choice”.
No more billboards in the city. Better to plant new trees in their place. This is what is happening in the French city of Grenoble, where the mayor, Eric Piolle, has kept a promise made during the electoral campaign that brought him to lead the capital of the Isère department.
In Grenoble, 300 advertising spaces removed to make way for greenery
According to Euronews, the mayor – who stood in the municipal elections for the ecologist party Eelv (Europe Écologie les Verts), backed by a left-wing coalition – won the election on the strength of a new vision for his city. One built in part on the slogan "Not advertising but trees". In practical terms, Piolle decided not to renew the contract with JCD Decaux, which held a concession for advertising across 300 spaces in the city. Over time, the billboards were removed.
50 trees have been planted in place of the cumbersome advertisements. At the time, JCD Decaux claimed the decision would cost the city coffers as much as 600,000 euros a year (no more than 150,000 according to the municipality). But beyond the financial considerations, for the red-green administration the choice was driven by needs deemed a priority.
Not just an ecological question but an ethical one
"We are convinced that public spaces are the places where the city is 'created'," Piolle explained in an interview given to Lifegate.it. "Removing advertising means giving those spaces back to the people. But it is also our contribution to the process of moving beyond the model based on the consumer society, which cannot represent the future either for humanity or for the planet. Children going to school walk along the city's streets: we must think about their education too."
#Grenoble : Plus d'arbres, moins de publicités! Excellente initiative. positivr.fr/grenoble-inter…
Grenoble thus became the first European city to ban advertising from its streets. Today it remains only near bus and tram stops. In some cases, boards have been installed in its place to inform residents about the administration's activities or to promote exhibitions, shows and cultural events: "Ours," the mayor often repeats, "was an ethical choice."
The "transformation of the imagination" sought by the French mayor
But it is not the only project launched by the new administration to make the city more sustainable. "We have embarked on," the mayor continues, "a transformation of the imagination. Starting from very concrete choices, such as wanting to encourage a profound change in the way urban mobility is conceived. The result is that we recorded a ten per cent increase in bicycle use in the first year, and twenty per cent in the second."
In collaboration with Toyota, moreover, Grenoble was the first city to launch a rental service for the Japanese manufacturer's three-wheeled electric vehicles. With 27 stations and 120 charging points, all adults holding a driving licence can register for the service and get behind the wheel of what Toyota has described as "personal mobility vehicles".